Tnr r— /-\ r\ — 7 — 7—7 :>o:>.:>u^//:> SrniS BULLETIN 99 1955 WCJ The Smaller Electric Railways of Illinois KEOKUK •(^Hamilton /£ Warsaw (U) QUINCY TERRE HAUTE ST. LOUI by BJ.Misek 325,56^1-13 ~l\ The Smaller Electric Railways of Illinois FOREWORD: Several years ago CERA began a series of year- book publications in the album form dealing with the electric railways of one of the midwestern states each year. When the series was started, it seemed probable that the first issue of this kind might be CERA's last for a while, and the idea seemed to offer a practical way for liquida- ing CERA's publication fund and its accumulated publications material. Previous bulletins had usually concentrated on one or two specific rail- ways' history, on some new development or on a phase of electric railway operation. While the continued need for the detailed re- search on individual subjects is unchallenged, the response to the album yearbook, with its general catalog-like coverage of many properties indicated that an important need was being filled. So, instead of dying with that Ohio book, CERA's publication program started off fresh. The Ohio books were snapped up quickly and can now only be obtained as a collector's item from rare book dealers. The nextyear's Wisconsin book proved the appeal of this general form well enough to override the financially disastrous effects of a flood which doubled the cost of its preparation. Last year, when the subject matter shifted to the State of Illinois, the amount of material was too great to get into one year's budget, so that the 1955 yearbook was confined to the system of street and interurban railways affiliated under the name "Illinois Traction System". This year the bulletin covers "The Smaller Electric Rail- ways of Illinois", which picks up all the remain- ing lines in this state except the big Chicago group, which are held over for future years. With very few exceptions, it has been the policy to repeat no material here that has appeared in previous CERA publications; rather, the space has been utilized to include as much hitherto un- published information as possible. For further data, please refer to the following CERA bulletins: ■ 23 Chicago North Shore & Milw. R.R. Chic. Rapid Transit, Met. Divn. Chicago & West Towns Ry. Chic. South Shore & South Bend R.R. Chicago Aurora & Elgin Roster. CNS&M Modernized Car 741. Illinois Central Elec. Suburban. CNS&M Electroliners. Chicago Surface Lines Roster. Illinois Terminal R.R. Class D loco. CERA Official Car 300. Springfield (111) Transportation Co. Modernization of CSS&SB Car 15. Album of Illinois Traction car 270. Chicago's Wartime Paint Jobs. Anniversary of Chicago Subway. Evanston Railway. CA&ERy and its New Cars. Peoria Railway. Peoria, continued. Cars of the North Shore Line. Kewanee & Galva Railway. PCC Equipment for Chicago "L". The South Shore Line. The Illini Trail (CO&P-C&IV). Electric Car Orders 1906-1947. Illinois Terminal R.R. Streamliners. VHF Radio for South Shore Line. South Shore Line 800-class Locos Chicago & Interurban Traction Co. In addition, of course, there were many brief items in other issues not listed above. B-l B-2 B-3 B-4 B-5 B-13 B-14 B-22- B-27 B-28 B-29 B-34 B-41 B-55 T-13 T-15 T-2-4 B-64 T-2-12 T-3-1 B-68 B-69 B-73 B-76 B-77 B-80 B-82-83 B-85 B-88 B-93 For index and credits, please turn to page 134 3 EVANSTON RAILWAY COMPANY After a number of abortive attempts by local interests, street car service came to Evanston in 1893, as part of a through route from Chicago. Under the name Chicago & North Shore Street Railway, the line operated via Evanston Avenue, now called Broadway, and Clark Street on Chi- cago's North Side. Crossing into Evanston at Howard Street, the line continued on Chicago Avenue to Dempster Street, then west to Sher- man Avenue and north to Emerson Street. The entire route was double -tracked. Inl895the Evanston City Council granted per- mission to extend the route northward from Em- erson Avenue to Central Street. By 1896 the Evanston operation consisted of 1 7 miles of track, with 2 5 cars. In 1899 the property was swallowed up with half-a-dozen other north and west side Chicago lines to form the Chicago Consolidated Traction Company. During this period extension was made on Central Street to Lincolnwood Drive . After legal and financial difficulties the lines outside of Chicago passed to the County Traction Company, who operated them with cars rented from Chicago Railways Company, successor to the lines within the city. After labor difficulties, culminating in a strike, the Evanston line passed to the Evanston Railway Company in 1913. The new company, armed with a 20-year franchise, rebuilt most of the track, using "T" rails. Anew carhouse, described in the trade papers as a combination of the artistic with the practical and built "at reasonable cost to please the aes- thetic ideas of a most particular community" was erected on Central Street just west of the North Shore Channel. St. Louis Car Company delivered 13 double-truck arch-roof two-man cars with maximum-traction trucks, steel under- frames and drop platforms. Interior finish of the cars was cherry with bronze trim; outside the cars were green with gold striping. There were no destination signs, the only identification being "EVANSTON RAIL- WAY CO." in gold letters on each side of the car. Coincident with the 1913 separation from Chi- cago lines, a single track was built eastward from Chicago Avenue on Howard Street to the elevated station at Hermitage Avenue, entirely on the Evanston side of the street, which forms the limits of the two cities. A track connection through between Clark Street and Chicago Ave- nue was maintained, however, for the life of the street car operation. The crossing of the elevated at Chicago Avenue and Juneway Terrace was grade-separated. A second crossing at Central Street was originally at grade, but was eliminated by the elevation of the rapid transit line in the late 1920s. In 1926 a mile of double-track extension was completed on Central Street bringing the line to Crawford Avenue. This replaced the correspond- ing portion of the subsidiary North Shore & Wes- tern Railway which had operated on Harrison Street, one block to the south, from the Lincoln- wood terminal. At the same time six additional identical cars were added to the fleet, continuing the number series from 14 to 19. This turned out to be more equipment than needed and both 1 6 and 1 7 are said to have been little if ever used. As Evanston grew, the area of coverage of street car service was supplemented by motor bus routes. In the early 1930s a modernization program was carried out on the street cars, with new comfortable leather upholstered seats and a tasteful new brown-and-tan paint job. Final replacement of street cars in Evanston came on November 11, 1935. NORTH SHORE & WESTERN RAILWAY Incorporated in 1906 to run electric railway service between Evanston and Elgin, North Shore & Western succeeded primarily In providing a "boon to Glenview golfers", as the line never did more than connect the Glenview Golf Club with the end of the Evanston street car line at Central Street and Lincolnwood Drive. A single track was built west along the north side of Harrison Street to Gross Point, then on a right-of-way along the south side of the road to the Chicago River, north branch, which is hardly more than a creek at this point. After a trestle was completed, cars crossed to a termi- nal in the Golf Club, with a turnout in front of the Westminster Country Club. MIDLOTHIAN & BLUE ISLAND RAILROAD: The Midlothian Country Club, located about 18 miles southwest of the Chicago Loop, was opened in 1898, well before the days of hard roads or automobiles. Its members naturally felt there was need for some kind of shuttle transportation be- tween the club grounds and the Chicago Rock Is- land & Pacific Railroad main line Midlothian station. As a result the Midlothian and Blue Island Railroad was built to fill this 1 l/4 mile gap, with the ultimate hope of building a further line paralleling the steam railroad into the nearby town of Blue Island and thus further improving the usefulness of the service by connecting with the interurban line to Chicago as well as tapping more population directly. Original equipment consisted of two second- hand steam road coaches and a Forney type steam locomotive from the recently- electrified South Side Elevated Railroad in Chicago. In the summer of 1911 the golf club itself took over the stock, which had been owned by a few in- dividual members prior to then, and electrified the line. A single-truck street car was acquired from the Chicago Consolidated Traction Company to begin the new service, and later a double-truck job was bought new from McGuire-Cummings car plant at Paris, Illinois. The entire line was on private right-of-way, with only one grade crossing. Power was pur- chased from the Public Service Company: To keep costs down, power was only fed into the line while trip was in progress and the substation was shut down during layover times. .^> e _ rt c* &> Ffe» CHICAGO & WEST TOWNS RAILWAY: The earliest local rail transportation in the western suburbs of Chicago was given by steam dummy railroads built in the 1880s. In 1896 the passenger operations of these lines were taken over by the Suburban Railroad. The Cicero & Proviso Street Railway was in- corporated in 1 889 and ran its first electric cars on February 12, 1891. Expansion of the two prop- erties with much financial and corporate activity ended on July 15, 1913 when the lines were ac- quired by the Chicago & West Towns Railway Company. Modernization followed bringing a fleet of 100% McGuire-Cummings-built street cars to the sys- tem. With the advent of motor buses in 1922, no further rail extensions of any importance were made. In 1936 a disastrous fire destroyed much car equipment at the Lake Street barn, marking the beginning of the decline of rail operation. In 1940 the Chicago Avenue line was converted to bus, cutting the rail system into two parts linked only by a roundabout route over Chicago Surface Lines. After the war the remaining lines were rapidly converted to bus, with the last cars running on the LaGrange line April 10, 1948. An excellent comprehensive bulletin describing this system has been published by the Electric Railway Historical Society. -*-» R« r>* £ ^ o •nnrro nn. fi'ap □ □ dHsdc do odd ati a a an a a i a aabn □ c=C d 15 d d op a □■r^3' aid d d era d nfc^5 d"o d a qa\p t r^ D'flaa n'fl ODDfB Da □ n t>o r . l riidti o rf* o C3 'f J ^ — fl" ]BnoDia C3 d'H d d cEa C3 r"£ a a rifei C5 : - : j - to" 9. HM-STCO CHICAGO & INTERURBAN TRACTION Chicago &t Interurban Traction Company, "The KanKaKee Line", was probably Chicago's least needed interurban line, and one whose history is an almost constant succession of failures, losses and receiverships. The line was an early victim of bus, truck and railroad competition and bowed out less than 20 years after completion of its line into Kankakee. Earliest predecessor was the Englewood & Chi- cago Street Railway, a storage battery operation between 63rd Street and Mt. Greenwood cemetery in Morgan Park. By 1897 its operation extended into Blue Island. In that year the road was sold under foreclosure to the Chicago Electric Trac- tion Company and by 1899 it had been extended into Harvey, where a second battery charging station was built (the first was at 88th & Vin- cennes) to give the cars the energy needed to make the return trip. By 1900 the company was ready to give up the storage battery idea and un- dertook electrification. Althothis was completed by July, 1901, it cost another receivership. 8 Foreclosure sale in 1907 transferred the prop- erty to the Chicago & Southern Traction Com- pany, which was planned to connect Chicago with Kankakee and Lafayette. Construction of exten- sions went ahead and the first regularly sched- uled car reached Kankakee from 79th & Halsted terminal on November 5, 1907. Entrance in Kan- kakee was over trackage rights on the North Kankakee Electric Light & Railway Co. By 1910 there was another substantial deficit accumulated and receivership came again in October, 1911. Early in 1912 Chicago & Interurban Traction Company took over the lines south of the Chicago limits, while the lines in town became part of the Chicago City Railway. The basic problems were not licked, however, and another receivership came. This time, the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois, a principal creditor, brought a staff of competent transportation engineers in to make what they could from the deteriorated property, but their efforts came to nought and the line was abandoned April 23, 1927. WBC *^^^>- *tsv Brt -A ^ 10 ^ a« v* o*- tf e* A o CHICAGO fc JOLIET ELECTRIC RAILWAY The Chicago & Joliet Electric Railway had its beginnings in the Joliet Street Railway, a horse- car operation which came into being in 1885. The three original lines were: Cass Street to the Cemetery, Collins Street to the Penitentiary, and a west side route crossing the DesPlaines River and extending to the top of the Jefferson Street hill. A car barn was provided on Second Avenue. In 1892, the company electrified its lines and added routes to Lockport, Rockdale, Hickory Street, Boulevard Heights, Brooklyn, South Chi- cago Street, Orphan's Home and Country Club, Ingalls Park and Second Avenue. Around the turn of the century the property- passed into the control of the American Railways Company, a group of Philadelphia capitalists who were building electric railways thruout the coun- try. The new group appointed Frederick E. Fish- er manager and commenced building an inter- urban route from Lockport north to Chicago. For construction purposes, two companies were or- ganized: Chicago & Joliet Rapid Transit Com- pany to build in Will County and Chicago & Des- plaines Valley Electric Railway to build and op- ■ erate in Cook County. The line to the city limits of Chicago was placed in service on September 25, 1901, altho the line between Joliet and Lemont, 13 miles, had been in service then almost a year. A terminal was established at Cicero and Archer Avenues, where connection was made with the Chicago City Rail- ways Archer Avenue line. Thru service was often considered, and is said to have been attempted in the very early days, but a permanent arrange- ment for a "one-seat" ride never came into being. A branch was built from Summit to Lyons, thus making a connection to the Chicago Railways system thru the Ogden Avenue line of the Subur- ban Railroad, later the Chicago & West Towns Railway. Enough double track was installed on the main line by 1904 to permit a practical half- hour service. To promote business, the company constructed Dellwood Park four miles north of Joliet, with all the usual amusement park attractions plus a Chautauqua . In 1915 the control of the property passed to the Central Illinois Public Service Company, which operated a scattered system of power and traction companies, including the Mattoon Char- leston, Eldorado-Harrisburg and Jonesboro-Anna lines. Riding remained heavy until the advent of the motor car and the network of hard roads. The company's car designs had always been progressive, for a small outfit. In 1911 C&J was one of the first interurban companies to buy cars with the plain arch roof instead of the usual monitor, thus gaining a simplicity in construc- tion and an economy in maintenance. Some of the original monitor-roof interurbans were rebuilt with arch roofs, to match the two multiple-unit cars of the 1911 order. Falling traffic and rising costs in the mid-20s brought forward modernization plans and a fleet of new cars. For city service there were new one-man cars, double-ended; for interurban service there were four new double-enders and six new single-enders, all one-man. In 1928 there were two notable experimental cars in an early attempt to make a radical break from the conventional style of street car a sort of pre- PCC development. 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O ^ O O N ^ o U A O a o U o3 o CO be c •1-1 B B u CM 3 of -<* CM I CM CO u a o CD u s o o 0) >> i 55 .S P E» M w "3, £ go c a > Sti C ID o> £ 13 o * (u5 a _^ t-i o rt ja > > m ^3.5 a S g.2 S S 3 "° » 3 .- rt >> O '53 "o ™ K (II It 19 20 o U x: o >H a < o Z O J o3 t— » <; u O « fc a < PQ (0 faD C J3 U o H « •i-i S s W W 3 O ^ W ^ kj ^ 3 ** * ^ V- K *~ ^ <$»& ^> J* From an order totalling only ten cars for interurban service, C&JE specified six single-enders and four double -enders, again revealing the attention to exact requirements, the particular care given to planning to meet its needs. At the top is a scene of the four double-enders, resplendent in the unusual scarlet-and-tan paint job, ready to leave the car builder's plant at Paris, Illinois. Just below that, car 242 turns the loop at Archer & Cicero, in the southwest corner of Chicago, and below, car 249 takes some layover time in the not-then-too-busy streets of Joliet. 21 OB CAB- II 4Jft '■< H^INSIfc _«£-**•■ Thru service into Chicago began with the for- mation of the Chicago & Joliet Transportation Company to operate motor buses over a parallel- ing route on the west side of the DesPlaines River. Thru rail service was tried with the Chi- cago & Illinois Valley Railway to Starved Rock and other valley points. The combined effects of the automobile and the depression proved too much for C&J in the early 30s and the system was gradually aban- doned, beginning with the Argo-Lockport seg- ment on November 16, 1933 and winding up with the conversion to bus of the Rockdale Lockport and Wilcox-Cass lines in August, 1934. Two double-end light-weight cars (250-251), sent to Joliet in 1931 from the Mattoon-Charles- tonline, were sold to the Jamestown (N.Y.) Street Railway, but other than these all C&J equipment went directly to the scrap pile. The interurban routes were taken over by the Bluebird bus line and the city routes became Joliet City Lines. «afc ps ANNA-JONESBORO LINE: The line between Anna and Jonesboro was one of the state's smallest electric railways; it was hardly an interurban in the usual sense of the word, being only 3 miles in length, yet it did con- nect two separate communities. The Fruit Growers Refrigerating & Power Co. was incorporated June 8, 1905 to provide elec- tric power, ice and street railway service, and began operation in 1907. The property was part of the Central Illinois Public Service system, of which F. S. Peabody was a promoter and which became Insull-controlled in later years. Its track extended from Jonesboro thru Anna to the State Mental Hospital on the outskirts of Anna. In addition to passenger service, it handled carload freight, principally coal to the hospital. On July 29, 1929 the Central Illinois Public Service Company was authorized to replace street cars with bus service. A portion of the track was sold to a new company, the Anna- Jonesboro Railroad, for the purpose of continuing freight service to the hospital and the remainder of the line was junked. See page 33 for map of Fruit Growers Refr. & Pwr. Co. N 1 f* 'I I ■ I I I I I I I I I | II I I f t mt | | | | | | (— ( 1 l ll l | | | | | CHICAGO HEIGHTS Street Railway Co. 1820 by MA. ZIMK ^ CITY LIMITS. BN Experimental 3rd Rail Electrification of Chicago Burlington & Qulncy R. R. McCook, Illinois - Circa 1905 23 AURORA- JOLIET-CHICAGO HEIGHTS: Ground was broken in the middle of June 1903 for the construction of a connecting link between Aurora and Joliet, bridging the gap between the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway and the Chicago & Joliet Electric Railway. The proposition was built and financed by the Fisher Construction Company, which had started many lines in Ohio, among them the Columbus Delaware & Marion, the Columbus London & Springfield, the Columbus Grove City & Southwestern and the Columbus Buckeye Lake & Newark. Fred E. Fisher gave up his duties as Manager of the Chicago & Joliet Electric Railway to devote full time to the idea. The Joliet-Aurora line, incorporated in 1901 as the Joliet Plainfield & Aurora Railroad, was about 20 miles in length. It passed thru only one town of any size: Plainfield, altho the rural pop- ulation along the route was relatively high. !: '• .•tlillBiiiiiilni The section between Joliet and Plainfield, 8 miles, was opened for service-on December 7, 1903, while the completed line thru to Aurora began regular service October 22, 1904. Of the 20 miles of owned track, 12 were on private right-of-way suitable for double -tracking which never became necessary and 8 miles were on the side of the highway by virtue of a 50-year franchise. City tracks accounted for 3 additional miles. Typical track construction was on 60-lb. rail, with6"x8"x8'-0" ties on 2 ft. centers and gravel ballast. Trolley wire was 000 grooved with brack- et construction. Aluminum feeders equivalent to 400,000 cm copper were used, with one feeder running the full length of the line and an additional one stubbing out about 4 miles on each end. Power was purchased DC from the local railway com- panies at each terminal and there were no inter- mediate substations. A telephone line for dispatching ran the length of the road with jack boxes at sidings and porta- ble telephone sets on each car. There were two grade crossings with steam railroads, with interlocking signals and derails arranged to be operated by the interurban con- ductor. Turnouts had spring switches and there were trolley contactor signals made by the United States Signal Company. At the most important country stops there were waiting shelters with electric heat and lighting. At Plainfield the company shops were built, and close by (actually too close to get much town business) was the railway-operated Electric Park amusement center. Here too was the one long single truss thru bridge of the line, cross- ing the DuPage River. Rolling stock consisted initially of six passen- ger motor cars and two passenger-baggage mo- tor cars. The parlor car "Louisiana", displayed by the American Car Company at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, was added in 1905 to accom- modate special party business. Service began on an hourly basis with the run taking 1:20 between terminals; later the time was reduced to 1:10. In 1905 the Joliet & Southern Traction Company was incorporated to build a network of inter- urban railroads radiating from Joliet. It was, in turn, controlled by the high-sounding Chicago, Joliet & St. Louis Electric Railway, which also controlled the Bloomington, Pontiac & Joliet Electric Railway. BIN In January 1907, Joliet & Southern purchased the Joliet Plainfield & Aurora Railroad and in 1909 it actually constructed one of the planned extensions, that from Joliet to Chicago Heights. This line, built to the same standards as the Plainfield road, ran on the side of the road from Joliet to New Lenox and on private right-of-way from New Lenox to the edge of Chicago Heights. Here cars entered on 1 5th Street and connected with the Chicago Heights Street Railway. An ex- tension to Hammond, Indiana, was planned but was never accomplished. Rail was 60-lb. in section and there were US automatic trolley contactor signals for the en- tire 24 miles, with sidings averaging 2 miles apart. Trolley was 000 with a 400,000 cm feeder the entire distance. 24 _*-^* -- At Frankfort there was a carhouse and sub- station, but shopwork was done at Plainfield. A notable 145 ft. thru truss bridge spanned the Michigan Central Railroad and there was another sizable viaduct over the Illinois Central Rail- road at its crossing with the M.C.R.R. in Matte- son. While J. P. &A. cars had originally used track- age rights on the Wilcox city line of the Chicago & Joliet Electric Railway to reach downtown, the Joliet & Southern management secured a fran- chise and built an independent route on Granite, Ruby and Chicago streets, over which a local car was run in addition to the interurbans. Eight new interurban cars were ordered, with bodies (but not control) suited for multiple car operation. Similar cars were bought for the ad- joining Chicago Aurora & DeKalb Railroad, elec- trification of which was being carried out by "sympathetic interests". In 1914 the burden of damage claims on tra- ditionally poor receipts brought receivership which split the property into a section west of Joliet called the Aurora Plainfield &. Joliet Rail- way, and a section eastward called the Joliet & Eastern Traction Company. In the next few years a single-truck birney car was purchased for the city line in Joliet. Several of the original JP& A carswentthru a $1200-per- car general overhauling at Plainfield shops, from which they emerged with monitor roofs rebuilt to an arch form and with 12 -gage sheet steel side sheathing. At least one of the J&S type cars received a similar treatment. In 1923 the Illinois Central Railroad undertook a tremendous grade separation project and Jo- liet & Eastern would have had to raise its bridge or come up with some other means of crossing the Michigan Central at Matteson. With little prospect of traffic improvement it was inevitable that it should cease operation and be scrapped. One or two of its cars were sold to that Valhalla of interurbans, the Sand Springs Railway of Tulsa, Oklahoma. AURORA, PLMNMLD **»-»" 1923 PASS ACCOUNT RAILROAD COMPANY NO. OVER ENTIRE SYSTEM ,, 23 U »..CB. »"««•'" °"° 142 AJ Six Ways of Making a Glorious Loop Trip Oh, for the good old days . 'M AURORA tlGlfi ICAGO RY CO CHICAGO crrv OOOI One 5 Cent Fa: Avenue Limits. Form 5171— C bom Archer Cv> [81 l Ki. B\ M AURORA LlGIN 6 CHICAGO RYf innt of Chicago A Jollet ki«*^«| Joliet to Archer Ave. Limit*. conditio** iTH AURORA N ft CHI! RY CO CHICA in wiling i other own road. Void if De i»»uid ir JOLIET PLAINFIELO & AURORA RAILROAD ■ CNI ot & JOLIET ELECTRIC RV ARCHER AVE. LIMITS -TO KorniAS171B JOLIET la Mllin- Af*n« .11..I i. n. I r»| V "^' \*X^->*~* • 1 ~ t_ Bral Mi. n: r. Aaut .... i o n. i fr . ■ oJouet.Puunfielj) & Aurora RAILROAD CHICAGO CITY RAILWAY CO. Cood for One 5 OENT Fare IO- Form A 5171 1 ARCHER AVE. LIMITS ion VOID IF DETACHER :°**S' Oi-nrpnl Manager. JOLIET RlAINFIElD L AURfiRA - -RAILR- - AURORA FLGIH A CHICAGO R. R AURORA Forii A r 17 i B CHICAGO ,..r„„,,„t-— Vpf.-^* VOID IF OEfACHEB. ';:— ^TTT^ lOUET PLAINFIELO & AURORA - rtAILROAD Cood for ONE PASS ACE JOLIET IO- I . .nAUTlB AURORA Subject In MtMBinllH yy Jjk VOID IF DETACHED 'C^SmS^T LCWCftGO&JCL . LECTR iUUNAY. ACCT. A. ,»* FlOli A CH'CAM I. R R CO 58 AURORA — Tl CHICAOO ocm. MQR r> rq«rt. : CHICAGO* JOUET EU P .TWC RAILWAY ACCT. JOUET.riAIHFiCLBAHOAURCAAII. •. CO JOLIET AURORA ootrAol Willi If !>ITlUM> , CHICAGO* JOLIET ELECTRIC RAILWAY '■-' CHICAGO —TO— »»r« JOLI ET «HM1'i«.-l Mill) 32K CHICAGO JOLI ET MUUxLtkUt . CHICAGO * JOLIET E - RIC RAILWAY 5 ACCT. CHICAGO IBITT AAIIWAT CO. good for one-b c$nt fare Archer Ave* Limits Mllll IF IIMHIIhll 9 CA7V1.M»» CtKAGOXJOlifT ULECTfu -ILWAY ACCT. AURORA, ELGIN A CHICAtt I. R. R. CO. 55 AURORA -TO— »•<•>■> CHICAGO ii-'w^r^ Mllll II III. I ;,:;«, ^^s&^ s' ; CHICAGO* .IV.'J'IT El EGTW W .^ WAY ACCT. JOUET, FIAIIFIELOAIIO A UR0«A*»»*.C0 32. JOLIET ftj^ AURORA ■■■■Si vuu*+ui iMiiiiniiiinnii f- w i i ■ -RCX3- CHICAGO St JOUET ELECTWCrrftlLrVAY., ACCT . 'ET, HA1NFIE10 AMD AURORA P R CO 32'. AURORA ACCT AURORA. ELGIN A CHICAGO E R R CO 55 CHICAGO AURORA Willi IV HI I KIIK0 7 #f»'i **(,.» ISGUKO KV LCKICAGO&JOIIET ELECTRIC RAILWAY 5 ACCT. CHICAGO CITY RAILWAY CO GOOD FOR ONE 5 CENT FARE I |:ciM— ••'- Archer Ave. Limits Mllll If I'llUIIKII I jfv'i«n.o CHICACOSJOLIET ELECTRIC RAILWAY, 33., JOLIET _!(l_ l..rn. CHICAGO (ESI) Mllll II 111 In IIMI 1 t£rt'i.«»« JOLIET PL' ' -IELC S AURORA r- ROAD ■ All RA. ELGIN A CHICAGO R. R OMICACO -») Form B 5171 B AURORA in scIIIik Hi.- nt<* -iM. ■!.•>,. i;l ■ ■ u,nid. t.uner»l MiinBKir. lOUET PLAINr IELD & AURORA RAILROAD CHICAGO CITY RAILWAY CO. Cood for One 8 CENT Fare ARCHER AVE. LIMITS TO— Form B B171 B CHICACO SllhjM-t Ini'i.Ii.litioiiH >y /» ofC.mlni.l C57V *• ' VOID IF DETACHED. <£,;:„,, -, ISSUED BY JOLIET PLAINFIELO & AURORA RAILROAD CHICAGO A JOLIET ELECTRIC RY. JOLIET IO Form B B171 B ARCHER AVE. LIMITS D lltlojM / fy VOID IF DETACHED JOUET PLAINFIELO & AURORA • RAILROAD Cood for ONE PASSAGE AURORA IO- Form B 6 171 8 JOLIET s.ii.j. .i loroadbion- » A • VOID IF DETACHED ^'-^ 27 n. .1 M>l... '. r The Plainfield line, without the pressure of a major line change, managed to last a year longer, but its operation finally ended on September 1, 1924. The Joliet city line remained a few months longer and when it quit and Birney #101 was sold to Aurora, delivery had to be made via Chicago & Illinois Valley Railway to Morris, Fox & Illi- nois Union Railway to Yorkville. Then it was moved over the abandoned, butnot yet dismantled Yorkville line of the Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric Company. This was a variation of one of the unusual items of special business that the Joliet lines had earlier participated in, the move- ment of Cook County car #1, a private vehicle for the transportation of patients between hospi- tals in Chicago, Kankakee and Elgin. This car, equipped with trolley style small flanges and narrow wheel treads, was normally based at the Kedzie barn of the Chicago Surface Lines. It made trips between the various hospitals in Chi- cago and in the other cities mentioned over lines of the CSL, Chicago & Interurban Traction, Jo- liet & Southern Traction and Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric Company. Track connections did not exist for direct movement between Chicago and Elgin via Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railway, even had its wheel contours been acceptable to that road. Only one of the AP&J interurbans has been traced away from that line: a combo which be- came #18, the Lebanon-Crawfordsville shuttle of the Ter're Haute Indianapolis & Eastern Trac- tion Company. F£& rr*** > JOLIET & SOUTHERN TRACTION COMPANY ROSTER OF EQUIPMENT (Partial) (•ok touM-ry CA» Me. 1 Series Builder Date built Type of car Length width Seats Motors Control Truck Single 46 8'-8" 52 4GE67 DE-K Brill 27-E ue 8'-8" 52 4GE67 DE-K Brill 27-E 46 8'-8" 52 4GE67 DE-K Brill 27E (note 1) A6 8'-8" 52 trail none DE-K double (note 2) i 26 2 single 2 DE-K63 Birney, single truck 3 1 0-1 3 America n 3/1904 1 4-1 5 A merican 12/1904 16 - 17 American 8/1905 „ American 8/1905 20 A merican 22 50, 51 American 101 American 110-116 These were cars #10 117-121 American 1909 Louisiana " 1905 Cab-on-flat work car Interurban passenger Int. Psgr-Baggage Interurban Passenger Box motor Flat car City passenger Abe City pa 6senger -l6 renumbered in 1909. Interurban psgr-hagg 45 8»-8" 4GE80 DE-K Brill 27El£ Interurban passenger parlor chair car exhibited at St. Louis World's Fair; destroyed by fire at Walker siding. AJ Note 1; Car 17 destroyed in 1908 in a collision with an EJ&E engine. Note 2; These cars were sold, before delivery to the Aurora Plainfield & Joliet line, to the Chicago Ottawa & Peoria Railway, and became their numbers 40-43. 28 Paint job before 1909 was red and cream; after 1909 all cars were changed to olive green. 2 co PQ >> W CO O u W 6 AURORA-ELGIN VALLEY LINE: The Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric Com- pany railway line extended in the Fox Valley par- allel to this north- south river course, about 35 miles west of Chicago. It is a pleasant valley, dotted with a string of suburban towns and country estates. Its development led naturally to thoughts of interurbans and street railways. In Aurora, street railway history began with the incorporation of the Aurora City Railway Company on July 1, 1882. Operation began in 1884 on 6j miles of track with two mule cars. An extra team of mules was stationed on the Main Street hill to give additional lift on the up trip and addi- tional drag on the down trip when they were hooked to the rear of the car to prevent it from banging into the legs of the lead team. r- l A franchise for electric cars was secured in 1890 and the company became the Aurora Street Railway on August 16, 1890. The first electric cars were operated in 1891, starting from a com- bined power house and car barn at Benton and Water Streets. After the electrification, the system was ex- panded to a peak of six thru lines: Claim-South Lake, New York-Penn, Lincoln-Spruce, Fifth- High, River Street and Union-Downer. In Elgin, Bruce Rogers had been operating horse cars on Grove and Douglas Streets from the El- gin Watch Factory to Plum Street. A franchise granted in 1899 to the Elgin City Railway Com- pany permitted replacement with trolley cars. On July 4, 1890, the first electric car ran on Chicago Street. The Grove, Dundee, Douglas, lines were soon running from Fountain Square and later the Park Street line was added. The interurban line from Elgin thru Dundee to Carpentersville was completed in the early 90s, and franchises were secured in 189t> to build a line south thru St. Charles to Geneva, with a for- feiture clause in case the line was not in opera- tion by July 1. Bad weather and other contingen- cies almost prevented fulfillment of the obliga- tion, but at 4:00 PM on June 30, 1896 the first car left Elgin on a shaky trip over the hastily completed track to St. Charles, with service to Geneva beginning about two weeks later. In 1899 a line was built along the west bank of the Fox River north from Aurora to Lakewood Park, near Batavia. From this point, horse buses were operated to Geneva to connect with the cars there until the final link was completed. At the same time, Aurora capitalist H. H. Evans obtained a franchise to build a line south thru Montgomery to Yorkville in connection with his Fox & Illinois Union Railway project between the latter town and Morris. The line opened to Mont- gomery in 1900 and on into Yorkville in 1901. Shortly thereafter the property was taken into the Aurora-Elgin system and Evans concentrated on his F&IU scheme. An interesting feature of the interurban line was its seven bridges over the Fox River, necessitating eight crossings on a thru trip from Carpentersville to Yorkville. On March 11, 1899, the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway was incorporated, to build a third-rail system linking the Fox Valley with Chicago, by the Wolf-Mandelbaum syndicate, which by now controlled the Elgin Aurora & Southern, the Aurora & Geneva Railway and the Aurora and Elgin city railways. On June 1, 1901 these Fox Valley lines were consolidated into the Elgin Aur- ora & Southern Traction Company and on March 20, 1906 theEA&Swas merged with the AE&CRy to form the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railroad. In addition to its own routes, city entry was provided for the Chicago Aurora & DeKalb R.R., the Joliet & Southern Traction and the Elgin & Belvidere line. Troubles set in after World War I and a re- ceivership came on August 9, 1919 which led to reorganization completed on March 15, 1922, in which the Fox Valley lines were divorced from the third rail division to form the Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric Company. Birney street cars came to the city operations and lightweight one man cars to the interurban. 30 RVK1 ^*7> ■* /» Train No t Traift No.... # Train No... t report at - RVM The first abandonment occurred in the portion of the Yorkville line south of Montgomery, closed on September 1, 1924. The rails remained long enough to permit the movement of a birney car bought from the Aurora Plainfield & Joliet line to be transfered to Aurora over the roundabout route from Joliet thru Morris and Yorkville sev- eral months later. The depressionbrought rough times to AE&FR and to top things off a tornado in 1933 severely damaged the Carpentersville branch, which never resumed service. Buses replaced the Elgin street cars in mid- 1934, and the interurban and Aurora cars on March 31, 1935. Trackage from Geneva to St. Charles, largely on Anderson Boulevard, remain- ed in use by St. Charles branch trains of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railroad until November 1, 1937. Freight operation on the AE&FR was confined to carload freight switching between an inter- change with the Illinois Central Railroad at Cole- man and the Elgin State Hospital at South Elgin. There was also a spur from this line to the Ker- ber Packing Company. After abandonment of the remaining services this remained with two cab- on-flat-car locomotives, numbers 23 and 49, and power was obtained from the CA&E at Clinton- ville. About 1946 this service, by now operated by the successor National City Lines, was con- verted to diesel and operates thus today. The lightweight passenger cars went to the Cleveland Interurban Railroad (now Shaker Heights Rapid Transit), from where two were subsequently sold to the Milwaukee Speedrail and four to the Columbia Heights & Southwestern, a projected shopping center attraction near Olm- sted Falls, Ohio. BH FEt 32 - ■D C 3 to u « a. to Q |i^ m a £ 1 o V Ol m CM c ^H en O CO c V) at I o a EMERGENCY ViiHd 'ANVdwca laaou 3soi9 TO NORTH AURORA AURORA N _cirrjdM(is. AURORA, ELGIN & CHICAGO RAILWAY by Frank 1. MlMk FRUIT GROWERS REFRIGERATING & POWER CO. by PAUL STRINGHAM TO STATE HOSP See page 22 for more on Anna-Jonesboro line . 33 JONESBORO 6K L i L. 7 ^•• "^m'o" SCh ' dU ' e 5 89- Sch.dolo !»■ WS2 6« 3 ".OS 25 46. L "*. „ A two**"*' a ' F l(7TH ST ^ Eod of Lin. at t""THST M , infc Broad-" 8 H.GHST £ B „d of Line »<- - HIGH ST u>ln & Bt0 «d«j ■ lv Mii.»t^ 09 24 39 54.- "08 23 38 S3 T . Main CUMMST --£.EDdo!U«a< sb".t.»a-S-t... 15 35 65— 0419**' '.'.'.'.-«• **'" .00 15 30 45 (ft 22 42— 13 28 43 5« "."".-.'.»» » K " ' .00 15 30 45.— 06 25 46.. „ 21 42 51 . 1SS6S5- ,, Mam * Broadly »>-"„,. ,, 34 SI £. End o< IW^ n j«4i6« ■—_"_ „ji j* « .6 34. .5 45. .5» ..5 45- .-S »- -S 51 ONION ST. UNION ST I v Main ' ' 1ln & SP«"« f s B ro»d«.J "— 'jg ^38 5S " M » 45 » * L -. !»■•"" OT 16 81 46— . -, Mam A Bro.d«V •«-- w „ W 45- 00 *NBP.Pl- uv . End ol Un. « • — M M ... doW NB.R PL _ „.i ABro.d«y ^'- , w88 48- 11 SI 51 — 08 2' * s — IS S3 53- Lv. M»'n ' .... »» 28 43 58.--- SBW YORKST.- M , inS[B ,o.d«y«'--; io , 5 30 45.. UNCOLNAVE.-.-^ E ' ilcHd *u.^y«'«-'-- UHCOLH AVE. .- Bto .dw.y *«- - soruce-oai L L vr,:. , A«.*v,..s,.. 03 23 43 ' 16 86 55 AURORA, ELGIN AND FOX RIVER ELECTRIC CO. DAILY SCHEDULE— Aurora City Line Cars IFFECTIVt SUNDAY. AUGUST T. 1932 Subject To Chance Without Nc LIKB UIN. AKTKR BACH HOUR FIRST CAR LAST CAR •C1RTH ST. __.LV.Foj «t Broadway (Daily) at 10, 25. 40, 55.5 25 a m.. 11 25 p 11 •FIFTH ST Lv. End of Line (Daily) at 08.23 38. 53. 5 SB a m. 11 38 p u •HIGH ST Lv. Foi & Broadway (Daily) at 04. 19. 34, 49.-5 34 a m.. 11 19 p r •HIGH ST Lv. End of Line (Daily) at... 00 15. 80. 45. 5 45 a m.. 11 80 p r •CLAIM ST Lv Foi4 Broadway (Daily) at 13. 28. 43. 58 5 28am. .11 13p « •CLAIM ST -Lv. End of Line (Daily) at 00. 15. 30, 46 S 45 a m.-ll 30 p r •SO. LAKE ST Lv. Foi 4 Broadway (Daily) at .13.28.43.58 5 28am. .11 13 p 1 •SO. LAKE ST Lv. End of Line (Daily) at 06.21.36.51... 5 36 am. .11 21 p r NEWYORKST Lv. Fox A Broadway up to 6:05 p m at 06.21,38.51 5S6am..ll 19 p 1 NEW YORK ST Lv. Foi A Broadway aft.r6:05p m at 19.89.59 NEW YORK ST Lv- Foi 4 Broadway Sunday! 4 Holidays at 19.39, 59 6 39 a m_.ll 19 p 1 NEWYORKST Lv. End of Line up to 5iS2 p m at 02,17.32.47. NEW YORK ST Lv. End of Line afier5:3- p m at 10, 30. 50 NEW YORK ST Lv. End of Line Sundays A Holidays at. .10. 30.-0... .... 1» "" " .0»»45- .--■» SPRUCE-VIEW Lv. Foi At Broadway upto5 43pmat 13.28.48.58 SPRUCB.VIBW Lv. Foi 4 Broadway after 6 43 pm at 19. 39, 59 SPRUCE.VIEW Lv. Foi 4 Broadway Sundays 4 Holidays at. .19. 39. 59. . SPRUCE-VIEW Lv. End of Line up to 5 55 P m at 1128.41. 56 SPRUCE-VIEW Lv. End of Line after 6 55 p in at 10. SO. 50 SPRUCE-VIEW Lv. End of Line Sundaya 4 Holidays at 10. 30, 50 . 5 47 am. .11 30p 1 ...6 50 a m-.ll 30p m .5 .8 1 639ai 5 41. a 1 11 19 pi . 1119P 1 . 11 80 p 1 hot>— Lines Marked With ' Indicate Cars Start On and Holidays. (OVER) 11 SOp (1) Hour Later In A. M. on Sundays >- z < Q. o o y a: i- u UJ -J q: > or O Ll z o -I UJ < o a: < H 55 W S (X I— I ;=> rH rH -tfrH O en CM cm en o o o o dddd ci si si si o a o o CM X) t-t to to to o vSOvo h 3335 I I I I CM CM CM CM +> P W W i-l r-l ■Oflrlrt fc h i-l iH 3SMM CM CM CM CM to to r> to b c m a tT-rH tO CM CM encM en o cm r- r- o O O O H co co ca ts CM^O r-l »r\ s co to a So o c c o « § § CD n eo >a SO «r> iH i-H CO CM en CM RRg 33 3 o o o ddd si si &i OOC3 333 i i i CM CM CM \OV£> o I I 1 c- c~-^o °?° cnto^o en CM CM r> t>- r- O^ O C> a o to a o J3 s Q. a> p co CM-H CM § O en CM en O r-l CM CM co to 00 en eni" gRRg 5vo r> r- CM W> -•* ^>vovO M Cj M M si si si si a o o a 3 3 3 3 I I I I CM CM CM CM l-l r-l r-l r-l HHrlrl tI -H-H t) c2 cq c3 c3 VO^OVO 00 rr\ en f\ -^ B S B O O CM CM H I I I I f>"3 rH SO CM rrvVTN M W M « si W 3 a o en o o c» 3333 « -4oiE B f- CM O O I I I I to to to t> BOOB O i-l r-l O I I I I l"- to to to O O B B rH H CM CM I I I I rr\ cr\ fr\ -4" CO CO to 00 Ch &• O* ON co oq H co rS 55^^ tO tO C^VO O O r-l iH c^->*-*^* CO h a) > a o o I § Irs i m oqvo cm cm D -~* V\ t> T\ O iH r-l rH rH SI CO OQ 00 o o o a a a c c a > > HDD S ^^i C^ Rc^ T3 T3 O O dd C5 O 3S 3 3 I I CM CM i da Q CM o o i i to to ?° ITNVO o cy> <^ -4^» 0NC-; rlrl 33 00 a i a> a> i c o c £ a o dS ir>u> irk vr\ >r\ Cjv cy- s s rH o o ^» -«»o r> r> C- t- rn r\ t-- rr\ rr\ rr\ fr\ rr\ si si si si oooa t> c~- r- 1^ t> vr> in vr\ >ri ir» u w w w w OOOOO en CM -p CO ^ I -p R to to to to to to to to v\o t> r> >* o o o o o « P P -H O w co co Z S CM CM CM CM ^* CMVO CM^O O O O O O rH rH rH CM CM CM E-> H o 8 3: CM CM vri CM «n -S* r-| S- 5155 T3 "Q >o >r\ o V! O IA O ^d M en vo a 9 W *? 1=? ^1-CM -* ^ » J o (h a> M M W O. CI u u •4 •« o II • g II hH ca^sscSco-s:^ O 37 CHICAGO HARVARD & GENEVA LAKE RY. Built in 1899 to connect the Chicago & North Western Railway at Harvard, Illinois, with Wal- worth, Wisconsin, and the resort of Fontana Beach on beautiful Lake Geneva, the Chicago, Harvard & Geneva Lake Railway was busy with summer vacation traffic from Chicago to and from the lake. With the end of the summer sea- son, however, the passenger business faded and it appeared that something else would have to be done to keep going. Things got worse when the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway built a branch through Har- vard in 1900, providing direct competing ser- vice to Chicago, but freight traffic came to the rescue. After establishing an interchange with the Milwaukee Road, cars were switched with revenue equal to the line haul from Harvard. A steam railroad box car was converted into a freight motor by equipping it with a McGuire truck of a type designed for elevated railway service. Refrigerator cars were hauled from the Bowman Dairy plant at Bigfoot to the North Western Railway interchange for Chicago. All winter the line kept busy hauling ice cut from Lake Geneva to feed the big city's needs in those days before mechanical refrigeration. But the most important commodity was live stock from a private yard at Walworth. The line is said to have been so successful in its pursuit of freight traffic that the teaming of heavy loads along the paralleling roads practically ended and ' 'the con- dition of the highway improved almost at once." But even at best receipts were meager and economy was the rule from the first and the staff was kept to a bare minimum. The winter force numbered eleven--one manager, two en- gineers, one fireman, one electrician, one helper, one trackman, two motormen, one passenger conductor and one freight conductor. Additional crews were hired during summers. In 1911 the road came under control of the Marengo & Harvard Railway, which was to have linked with the Woodstock & Sycamore line to make a line through to DeKalb and Aurora. Al- though evidences of grading and a substation re- main the project never materialized. CH&GL service ended in April 1930 and the road was scrapped within two years. 1 Williuni B*T-w j—S Lake 0c "•** ■^ '2 01 . 3 08 3 22 jus. ' 7 30 9 02 9 20 L_5 8 152 8 32-12 SOt I Mt 4 H* I tO • 8 01 -10 40 9 22 10 10 1 62 4 26 I 46 t 17 9 04 12 It 36 10 24 2 11 4 It IK III 117 12 12 9 ft 10 45 2 2» 4 67 lit III 9 40 12 66 i .10* 8 ZO *kTio-12 30' i U' I II 8 50 8 40 10 30 12 60 3 06 6 It ? 00 8 50 - 10 40 1 00 S 16 I 41 7 10 H 00 10 50 1 10 3 25 6 It TTI-TTF!' 7 tO 10 26 7 M 1 10 46 7 tt 10 65 CHICAGO, HARVARD & GENEVA LAKE RAILWAY Via. Walwor th and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Toward Chicago hVn.l.lown HI )4.l 142 !4oT Ml« SOI III II A M A at j A at p I. I'M ri i ' » I " famUh | C H.4GL L»1 5 15- 7 30-9 lO'll 50* 1 20(0 tot I llJ'T J... 2 'W.l-orth A, 5 26 7 40 9 20 12 00 1 SO I 10 I It I tt 2 'W.l-orth I M A s, r I,,- 8 05 ' 8 22 1 1 20 •> j || 7r. ich,r.,o a, 9 50 10 45 i3o i in.....:, :::: Toward G.ne»« Lake IKradtlown I 131 | 13o I 1J7 143 | M'*- NORTH AM AM AM PM Pal P at P a. Pat • 7 10 Ail. IK P M I P M • 1 61 1 I 60 I M ■ 62. 71 oW.lworth C. H *G. L l.rl 7 00 ' 6 50 ' 1 .0 ' I 00 ' 5 IS ■ 8 U « J il'l. Uf 74lFontan.Cmnl.lt Ac 7 10 900 10 50 1 10 1 26 6 tt> 7_H)1IU •Daily, tljaily except Sunday. I.Sunday only. tSaturday and Sunday only, and only when having passengers for Har- vard or beyond. Note: Geneva Lake station (Fontana) is at the touth end of the Lake Automobiles and boats meet cars for City of Lake Geneva and Williams Bay and all points around the Lake. &3t |V niaiia -S Wml worth ~ j Blue Foot > -!iianin-- 1HARVARO illUrdillil < -\\V 1 r-1 - t ■ . - ViMfrcAettl : l^H-i rl 1.1:1 ■ *\l'-J*lll»« '- ArllnstotaX HfighU I Mount Promptctl i ' in-. fuit.< -% PU. Rt-1i/r% r ii- ,, ) ,l, V Norwood Vtn.% Jrffi ;■ " BuDtlnff *ifnii.| ■fc CHICAC : -"-' !»'» — ,. — ,. , .. FOX & ILLINOIS UNION RAILWAY: The most unusual thing about this railway per- haps was its name, derived from its promoters' plan to unite the valleys of the Fox and Illinois rivers with an interurban railway. The only towns served were the terminals: Yorkville, on the Fox, and Morris, on the Illinois. The intervening run was entirely rural, with the simple cross-country run interrupted only by crossing from one side of the highway to the other at the substation mid- way. Altho the terminal towns were small, junctions were made with other interurban lines at each. At Yorkville, F&IU cars met Aurora Elgin & Chicago Fox River Division cars and at Morris, the line intersected the Chicago & Illinois Valley Railroad. BM - ^* Mt* Passenger business was very light and it was seldom necessary to take advantage of the mul- tiple unit control with which passenger cars 100 and 102 had been fitted. These two cars were built at McGuire-Cummings and were finished in brown with red roof and yellow trim and lettering. They were equipped with Westinghouse 306 mo- tors and double-end HL control. There were no wyes and the baggage vestibule was operated on the south end of each car. The abandonment wave took away passenger service on February 3, 1931 and would have end- ed all operations, but the farmers of the area cooperatively bought up the pike so that freight service on the five grain elevators would continue. Box motor 7 was equipped with a gasoline engine and the trolley wires were removed. Right-of- way for a transmission line was sold at a hand- some profit to the Public Service Company and freight operations although authorized to be dis- continued on February 29, 1938 were continued on a hand-to-mouth basis until October 21, 1938. The passenger cars remained on the property until 1933 when they were scrapped. The self- propelled box motor was sold to the Colorado & Southeastern Railroad. JFH 40 AT YORKVILLE 7 :ilii a.m. 0:55 a. in s:05 a.m. 7: 50 a.m |0 p. in :iir. p.m. !i:50}>.m ..".". p.m. 11 :■">" p. m . B. £ Q. Kasi West v47 a.m. in:2o a.H I :!!• p.m. li: 10 p.n OFFICIAL TIME TABLE, EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 1915 (Subject in C'lian^i- Without Notiiei FOX & ILLINOIS UNION R. R. CO. and CONNECTIONS LEAVE YORKVILLE Daiiy Except Sunday \ M . * M .A xi r XI 1 • XI Onh : 1". 7 ".2 1 1 55 :'. 52 i; :»5 !»:52 : 5!i S ol 12 15 4 04 t; :17 10:04 :ii3 s o7 12 III 4 07 li :2o io:u7 :07 N 12 12 2.". 4 12 li :2.". '0:12 :11 S u; 12 3(1 4 Dili :2s 10:11, :!.■ S 2o 12 34 4 20 n :32 10:20 :1«'S 24 12 :!S4 24 li :3»i io:24 :.:> s 2i! 12 42 4 2ii li 3S 10:20 :27 S 31 12 IS 4 31 li :43 10:31 :32 S 36 12 .".4 4 :tti i; :4s 10:36 :;vis 15 1 (14 4 45 !i :55 lo:45 .-I." S 511 1 10 4 50 7 .0:1 10:50 ARRIVE MORRIS LEAVE YORKVILLE. I A XI 1' XI I* XI ' XI !»:30 1:30 5:30 !i:30 ! !l:42 1:42 •>:- .-. i:4" i:45 5:45 9:45 I! !»:50 1 ."!(! 5:50 '.»:50 4 l:.">4 1:54 5:5' 7 H : 57 1 : 57 5 : 5 . 1 10:01 2:01 ti:01 0:01 3 10:03 2:03 6:03 0:03 5 10:08 2:08 6:0S 10;08 3 1<:13 2:13 6:13 10:13 i) 10:20 2:20 6:20 10:20 ". !ll-->-. •>.*)-. «.»-, 1 (»■•>-, ARRIVE MORRIS Kullnii.n own Srliool KtMitlaml moil ('filter IVterson Wilson ('. O. A: I*. Depot JlorrJi". — Hotel l'nmmeni:i! ARRIVE YORKVILLE Dai.y Except Sund£y .-"ai \ SI A .M I' XI P XI I' SI Only 7 : 5n ;i : 55 3: 45 6: uo S;ii5 12: In 7 : ::s !• : 4H :', : 2-". 5 : 4 s 7 : 56 1 1 : 5s 7::'.4 !l:42 3:2o 5:44 T:53 11 :54 SUNDAY ONLY I'rown School Kentlaiul Lisbon (V'lrvr Saratoga I'liuivh Koail Wilson l\ O. *j l*. Ih>imt XI orris — Hotel t'ommervia Telephone Vorkvii'e 15 Ticket*. lii'ij.111 rail'- nml oilier in All shipment* iuiin: In- plninly mark it owner"* rink. KronMn will be lian r delivered in ami from the ear. iinnaliiHi at Vt'rkville ulTloo. il and |ir -paiil unit-- i»Uier»i*i' lleil niih on i'ar U-;»\ iiiv; YnrU\ 7:L".> !«:3»! 3:1 ' 7:25 !i:::i :: :nx 7:22 H:27 :i:n4 3H T:4s 11 :40 35 7: 4.". 11:45 32 7:4oll:42 7 : 1 s !i : 2:'. 3 : oil 5 : 2s 7 : 38 1 1 : 38 7 : 1 •". !i : 2o 2 : 56 5 : 2-". 7 : 35 1 1 : 35 7:lo !i:i:, 2:4!> 5:2o 7:30 ll:3u i!»:lii2:43 5:15 7:27. 11:25 , !i: no 2:31 5:05 7:15 11: 15 S:55 2:25 5: on 7: lo 11 : |0 I. EAVE MORRIS ARRIVE YORKVILLE A Si A XI I" XI I Ml I' o:15 11:15 3:15 7:15 11 !':11 11 :11 3:U 7:U 11 !>:o7 11: o7 3: 07' 7 :"7 1 1 !»:i/3 ll:o3 3:o3 7:113 11 '.i;ou ll:iin 3:on 7:h:i n ■v57 10:57 2:57 6. 57 In V54 lo:54 2:54 t; : 54 lo s:4" lo:4!» 2:4!' 6: 111 lo V44 10:44 s:35 lc : ::5 :54 0:54 :4!i 6:l!l :44 6:44 lo:3u 2::!o 6:3n LEAVE MORRIS i-lLMlIllfllt* M Jl i|til~ in ami ir i\iii^ r M. irri- AT MORRIS C. O. & P. Kast Wi's i: 4n a.m. 5:50 a i:5o a.m. 7:on a 1 :47 a.m. 7:55a i : 47 a.m. S: 55 a 1 :47 a.m. !l:55,i 1.47 ,!.m. lo:55 a .47 p.m. 12:55 p :47 p.m. :■ 1:47 p.m. :-.:.... 1 >:47 p.m. 4:55 |i 1:17 p.m. 6:55|i ■ : 17 p. in. S:55 |; ' : 47 p.m. 11 :53 1 C. R. I. & P. last West Kast 4 : 20 a.m 6:2s a. in 26 a.m. 1:35 a.m. 2s a.m. 3: is a.m. 5s a.m. '.i: In a.m. 40 a.m. 10:41 a.m. 23 a.m. 2:52 p.m. 42 p.m. 5:22 p.m. lo p.m. 6: 45 p.m. 1 : 4ii p.m. 11 ::'.* p.m. • we liavi ::!■". p. 111. F. M. Z/MMERMAN. G. M. SB FOX I ILLINOIS UNION RY. GO. THIS COOTOIt IS GOOD FOR - < .ill-. 749 Not Good 11 Ueturhed. FOX SIMINOIS UNION RY. CO. THIS COUPOIt IS GOOD FOE ."» CdlllM FOX &l ILLINOIS UNION RAILWAY TIME TABLE FAST SAFE EFFICIENT SERVICE Morris Phones , Yorkville 15 / 9:Oo Pni 96 IS A " T r , *£; ^ ':> Central Standard Time Effective May 1. «*% °Vf» f41 o larch 8, 1930 BULLETIB NUMBER 47. SUBJECT: Stopping Operatlo To All Kmplo.yees ; Owing to lack of sufficient revenue it is neoessary to dieontlnue operation atonce and all employees are hereby notified that their services will not be repaired, after midnight "crch 9th. The management of the company regrets that it ir compelled to take this action. Should conditions arise after March 9th., under which tho ser vices of some of the employees can be used in the dismantling of tho road, such employees will be given an opportunity. All trainmen holding tickets and all employees holding switch keys, register keys or other property of the company, heretofore issued to them, will please deliver such property to the Karengo office on Maroh 10th, and receipt will be given therefor. KT.CIH, BBLTIOERS & ROCKFORD RAIT^AY 10. President, ROCKFORD TO CHICAGO- —East Bound Rockford Lv. 5 55 7 4b 9 45 11.45 1 45 3 45 5 45 8 20 10 40 C. Valley 6 20 8 09 ID 09 12 09 2 09 4 09 6 09 25 8 49 9 05 11 11 08 25 Belvidere . . 6 35 8 25 10 25 12 25 2 ?5 4 25 6 G. Prairie 6 48 8 38 10 38 12 38 2 38 4 38 6 38 9 16 11 40 55 Marengo x5 50 7 00 8 5.3 10 53 12 53 2 53 4 53 6 53 9 28 11 Union x5 58 7.07 9 02 11 02 1 02 3 02 5 02 7 02 9 37 Huntley x6 13 7.19 9 15 11 15 1.15 3 15 5 15 7 15 25 9 46 9 55 Gilberts x6 22 7 29 9 25 11 25 1 25 3 25 5 25 7 Elgin Ar. x6 46 7 48 9 50 11 50 1 50 3 50 5 50 7 50 10 22 Chicago Ar. (£«;,'') x8 06 9 04 11 06 1 15 3 15 5 26 7 18 9 13 11 46 Chicago Ar. (Sundays) 9 17 11.17 1.17 3 17 5 17 7 17 9 17 12 21 Electric Cars leave CHICAGO TO Rockford for Freeport and Beloit. ROCKFORD— West Bound Chicago Lv. (Sundays) 6 30 8 30 10 30 12 30 2 30 4 30 6 30 8 30 00 Chicago Lv. (Week Days) 6 10 8 30 10 30 12 30 i2 30 •2 30 4 48 7 05 9 Elgin Lv. x7 00 8 10 10 10 12 10 2 10 4 10 ♦4 40 6 10 8 30 10 30 Gilberts x7 22 8 32 10 32 12 32 2 32 t4 32 *5 04 6 32 8 52 10 52 Huntley x7 32 8 <\? 10 42 12 42 2 42 t4 42 ♦5 15 6 42 56 9 02 9 16 11 11 02 16 Union x7 4G 8 f6 10. £6 12 56 2 56 t4 56 •5 36 6 Marengo 6 00 7 54 9 04 11 04 1 04 3 04 15 04 »5 45 7 04 9 24 11 34 G. Prairie 6 12 8 06 9 16 11.16 1 16 3 16 t5 16 •5 56 7 16 9 36 Belvidere.. 6 55 8 25 9 33 11 33 1 33 3 33 t5 33 •6 10 7 33 9 53 C.Valley 7 10 8 40 9 48 11 48 1 48 3 48 15 48 •6 26 7 48 10 09 Rockford Ai. 7 40 9 10 10 15 12 15 2 15 4 15 t6 15 *6 53 8 15 10 35 x Daily except Sundays. * Daily except Saturday, Sunday and Holidays. t Saturday, Sunday and Holidays only. A.M. Time Light Figures. P.M. Time Heavy Figures. l\->- S3 : a a a ELGIN & BELVIDERE ELECTRIC COMPANY Construction of an electric railway from Elgin through Marengo to Belvidere commenced in 1906. Popularly known as the "Dairy Route" in its early days, the design and construction was supervised by the noted traction engineer, Bion Joseph Arnold. About 30 years later he had the sad chore of dismantling the road, but still very much interested in new ideas, he converted the Marengo carbarn to a modern factory for the production of magnetic materials. BIS «y*a £ Right-of-way for the interurban which was to close the traction travel gap between Chicago and Rockford was acquired and steel was being laid by August 8, 1906. Track connections were made at Elgin with the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway and at Belvidere with the Rockford & Interurban Railway. All steam roads were underpassed, except in Elgin, where E&B ran on the city line's trackage. There was also street running in the towns of Union, Marengo and Belvidere. Construction was completed in the winter of 1906, with the first scheduled passenger car leaving Marengo for Elgin at 4:00 AM on Febru- ary 2, 1907. In 1908 the schedule provided hour- ly local service, with two limiteds in each direc- tion. Through service with the Rockford lines was developed at an early date, with the black cars of the Rockford-Belvidere road a common sight in the territory of the green E&B cars. Some "Dairy Route" cars were equipped with third- rail shoes for running over the Aurora-Elgin, but there apparently was no regular through passenger car schedule. Business was heavy at the start and on week- ends there were many double-headed runs, with cars jammed to the doors. E&B's cars, though quite small, were equipped with multiple -unit control and automatic air brakes, so that two or three-car trains could be run at modest cost to deal with peak loads. 44 Elgin & Belvidere's rolling stock, tho small in capacity, was ample for its usual needs and could be mul- tipled for train operation if nec- essary, altho this proved a mighty strain on its meager power supply, An interesting feature of the arrange- ment of the St. Louis-built cars was the motorman's cab and baggage compartment confined to the right hand side of the forward bulkhead, while the left-hand side was occu- pied by "railfan" seats with excellent forward observation. The motor- man's cab door was an afterthought — see earlier photo of 204 on bottom of page 43, as was the removal of the baggage door on one car -- see rear car of train on page 45-- and it looks like 204 was the recipient of that variation, too. After the first few years, E&B's existence became quite difficult. The population served was quite small and its dependence upon connect- ing lines for through traffic was apparent. Efforts to consolidate never bore fruit although operating agreements permitted through Rockford-Elgin cars until revenues got so low that division of costs became a matter of argument. Cost trouble brought ingenuity into play, and E&B (at the time it was working as Elgin Belvi- dere & Rockford Railway) put the first automatic substation into service at Union at about the end of the first World War. Arnold also bought what was then a huge gasoline engine, surplus from the War, and set it up on the floor of the Maren- go barn with a generator to permit the railway to discontinue the purchase of power from the Aurora-Elgin Batavia power house. Passenger cars included the St. Louis-built 201-207 group and the Niles-built 208-209, the latter thought to have been acquired from the Youngstown & Ohio River Railway. Car 208 got a very unusual rebuilding job, with the motor - man's cab being built into a tiny booth-like pro- jection of the train door. One of the St. Louis cars was destroyed in an accident on the Chicago Aurora & DeKalb Railroad where it was on lease, and the debt was repaid with car 24 of that road. One-man car operation came in 1927, when the Rockford lines bought seven light-weight maroon and cream cars from American Car Company. When the split of expenses became an issue, the use of through cars over E&B was ended, but it was obvious that the savings of one-man opera- tion should not be discarded. E&B's old cars, by now painted orange and red, were fitted for this service at very little cost. The baggage end was then run to the rear, the motorman's controls were moved to the left side of the old rear end, and a tricky arrangement of rods and handles was installed to permit him to open and close the door and trap without leaving his seat. Since the cars had typical interurban walkover seats, no interior changes were needed. This type of car was the last used. Operations dwindled away in 1928 and 1929. By that winter it was touch-and-go whether there would be enough receipts each week to meet the payroll. Trips were reduced one by one and final- ly, in March 1930, all service ended. Scrap val- ues were so low at the time that only the trolley wires were removed promptly. Arnold decided to dismantle the road himself rather than con- tract the job to a scrap dealer. He decided to use steam power and, when he found that a pet 4-4-0 he had designed in the '90s for the Great Western Railway could not be obtained, he purchased two old Manhattan Elevated Railway Forneys for the job. It took about five years to pull up the line, after which the rolling stock remained at Maren- go another couple of years, before it was finally junked. Two motor freight and express cars, numbers 101 and 102, built by McGuire-Cummings, car- ried a substantial freight business for the "Dairy Route . ' ' The road had few mishaps over the years, but there was considerable difficulty with snow and ice. One winter, almost the entire overhead structure between Huntley and Marengo was de- stroyed, necessitating the temporary use of an Illinois Central Railroad switcher to haul cars over the dead part of the line until wires could be restrung. Another bad incident occurred af- ter operations had ended and the line was being dismantled. Of course there was no dispatching system at that time and the weeds had grown high, concealing the view ahead at curves. One day owner Arnold came down the line on a mo- tored inspection car of the kind used by track section gangs and came around a curve headon into a steam-powered work train. Arnold, in his seventies at the time, narrowly escaped death, but lived to return to the Marengo barns where a railfan of the late '30s might interrupt his work on magnets for a few minutes of reminis- cences of the old days. Elgin & Belvidere Electric Co. SCHEDULE EFFECTIVE APRIL 30th, 1923. WEST BOUND SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. [Central Standard Time) STATIONS A.M. [ A. M. A. M. A. M. A. M. P.M. P. M. [ P. M. P.M. | P. M. P. M. | P. M. Sunday Leaving Time — Chicagc 1 Except 7:20 9:30 11:30 1:30 3:20 1 5:20 7:30 9:00 Chicago _ Lv. 1 7:20 9:30 11:30 1:30 3:48 4:55 7:35 9:00 Elgin _ Ar. l 8:56 10:53 12:53 2:53 4;57 6:20 8:55 10:15 Elgin Lv. 1 1 i 7:00 9:00 11:00 1:00 3:00 5:00 7:00 9:00 10:15 Gilberts 1 1 7:22 9:22 11:22 1:22 3:22 5:22 7:22 9:22 10:35 Huntley 1 I 7:33 9:33 11:33 1:33 3:33 5:33 7:33 9:33 10:45 Union 1 1 1 6:00 1 7:48 DAILY 7:57 9:48 9:57 11:48 11:57 1:48 1:57 3:48 3:57 5:48 5:57 7:48 7:57 9:48 . 9:57 11:00 11:10 Marengo Garden Prairie 6:12 | 1 8:10 10:10 12:10 2:10 4:10 6:10 8:10 10:10 Belvidere Ar. 6:25 1 8:24 10:24 12:24 2:24 4:24 6:24 8:24 10:24 Belvidere Lv. 6:50 | 8:25 10:25 12:25 2:25 4:25 6:25 8:25 10:25 ROCKFORD _ 7:30 | 9:05 11:05 1:05 3:05 5:05 7:05 9:05 11:05 EAST BOUND STATIONS A. M. A. M. A. M. A. M. A. M. P. M. P. M. P. M. P. M. | P. M. P. M. | P. M. Except 6:00 6:35 7:40 8:20 9:40 10:20 11:40 12:20 1:40 2:20 3:40 4:20 5:40 6:20 7:40 | 9:40 8:20 | 10:20 Belvidere - — Ar. 6:35 8:25 10:25 12:25 2:25 4:25 6:25 8:25 1 10:25 6:48 8:39 10:39 12:39 2:39 4:39 6:39 8:39 | 10:39 5:50 5:58 6:13 6:22 6:46 7:00 7:07 7:19 7:26 7:48 8:52 9:00 9:14 9:22 9:48 10:52 11:00 11:14 11:22 11:48 12:52 1:00 1:14 1:22 1:48 2:52 3:00 3:14 3:22 3:48 4:52 5:00 5:14 5:22 5:48 6:52 7:00 7:14 7:22 7:48 8:52 | 10:52 9:00 | 9:14 | 9:22 | 9:48 | Gilberts Elgin . _ — Ar. Elgin Lv. 7:02 8:02 10:02 12:02 2:02 4:02 6:08 8:05 10:35 | CHICAGO 8:07 9:10 8:00 11:20 10:00 1:20 12:00 3:20 2:00 5:25 4:00 7:30 6:00 9:30 8:00 12:03 | 10:00 | Sunday leaving time — Elgin Sunday arriving time — Chicagc 9:22 11:23 1:23 3:23 5:33 7:33 9:33 11:30 | Trains Run Through Between Elgin and Rockford Without Change of Cars. Woodstock Interurban Auto Bus meets Elgin & Belvidere Cars at Marengo daily leaving for Woodstock at 8:52 A. M. and 3:57 P. M. Leaves Woodstock for Marengo at 8:00 A. M. and 3:00 P. M. Special Auto Trips on request at reasonable rates. For information phone H. H. Bosshard, 235W or 17, Woodstock, Illinois. 46 gk Elg/n-Belv/oe-re: Eletctr/c Company e^s7-soa/\c 7/P/ t/iY A/os n5T 4TIOIYS MIU3 Belj SIPERE: *> West Pit 2* C4MP> F/»*VO#TH\ 4° &/tep£i\ r°/e/iif?iE 6J THOKNa >5lPI/Y6t 90 M/IRElYGO SHOPS "7 M/t&crvao '*■* T/M£ T/4BL f A/0 A7 po/? £-/&/=>/. overs use or//. Y e/=-/^e r , /e 20 ez < 24 , 26 28 j a~a \S2 o~4 AM. I AM. A.M. \ PM. ' PAf. PM- P~ASI f?M PM PA4 PM |j A ,V PV F> \1 — ^f 1 "r 1 — ; — 1 — : — ~t" — — f — *"' " ~ e.io\ 910 1 // /o 1 11 ' 3'0 -"0 > jrtf\ 6/a 800 /0a* //jc .200 ess 8.16 \ 9I7\ III7\ W7 3 ZA 417 S/6\ 6/7\ 3.07 I0.07\/I36\ ,2.00 9 02 — h^j — — h— i — J — ' — h -' — I - i fl.80! 9221 U22\ /■** 322\ 4-22 S20 622 8// t0.// ■ /e.0O , /?./.? S03 6.S£~]/O.OS\ /t37\ 237, 4.07^ S07' SS3 703~ B /9 . /Q/9 1 Z2.09 I I 7*7 \ I 9tS j| 73Q\ \*26_ BS9 /a/2 j /2/3\ 2/3 9.02 /0'3\ /2/3\ £/3-\ 9.Q4\ /O/B I '*/e 2/0 9.// ,/02e '**a\ 2za 9,31/033, /233\ 233 7/e \ B./6 ?20\ B.20] 9/a\/036\ /23t\ 2.3£\ 920 /037\ /2.37^ 237\ 924/04g\ /Z42\ 242\ 620\7m 7^w//v /Vos Stat/o/vj Bet-y/De&s iVcsr^/7- CfAf^fptre/e th JH/IKPCN P/ZA/K/E Thok/vs 5/ Pi rye <5CHN£/P£&S / I PM /PIU. \ /^/y P/vt ! P>/tf. PM \ A.m \ 7/2 I 3/2 S.33\ //./2 1.12 3./2 I 4/2 I XsA a.33" 73S\ 9.30\ ll.30\ 7./^ j 8<4 I 936\/£/<7\ 114 3/4 414 \ 3:36 . *J* r**'! fl^/i//.^/ ^■gg 622 \ f-42 \ //.22 \ /2 2 \ 3.22 ) 422 \ 3~4' _ 6- 4/ j ;>^g i Jtjy i //.J? ^^ ^ '' *44\ 940\//40 923 I a I i ^ i ' 1 7^?l ggg J»*» //.g^ | /< g I Ji ^ »[ /[ 3441 B49\/O.Oe\ //.49\ /49 J.49\ 44f>\ 607 703, 8 04 /002\/2O2\ 943~ I 7. fjft e&j] /q /0 I //33 . /.J~J\ J S3 , 4 33 j 6./o\ 7/0 j 3- 06 '0 0s\ /f 0S \ 04?\ 737 \ 339\/ 0/S \//.39\ , JS\3 33\4.33\ 6./S 7 /S \ 8.1 . ' /a /0 303, 904 1 /02o\ /2.04\ 204^ 4.04\ 3T03' 6-2o\ 720\ 8/( \ /> &06 \ 9.03 ^ iO. Z3\ I2.0S \ 208 < 4. 03] 3V 7 \ 6 24* 724 8/»\ /0/ 9 \ /* ./9\/009\ 8./9\ 9.2/ \/033-\/2.2/ I 22/ 42/ I 3~/9 I £33 I 733~\ 8.30\/03/\ 53 Tka/h A /os \A./yf.\ Stat/o/ys WestJ/pejc H4M//.TOn *vi 23o\ /-s4&KIIY£pl30/YAre\ 2331 ht/VG/ZftV/f _ 2 30\ & /L 0E&-F S 232', Fm/YS r~*/T ■ 23-4 /\t4KKS $IO//Y& 20-9 \ HUIY TLEY S/O/IYS i I 3.00 I Ho/YTLEY 3.03 \ Coy/VE J i 3» a \ Smith Sid/ is s, 3 IS I 1//VIO/Y 3.ie Schiycioeks S/o'&\ 8-32\ 930 /0.44\ 1233 233 4-33 S32\ 6.44 744\ 339]/a40\ e.37\ 937 /a48\l237 2.37, 4.37 S97\6'.48\ 7.4e\ a.42\/043\ IIYGf\ ! 34o\ &4K/9EIY i^IAIKIE [3.4s\ C*AfP> fmoiTTH J 33-o\ west i°/r 1 400 &ELy/C?EKE r/r?0// f/ft. 4 /ner77/7y f>o//?l WABt/SSCLlSuPT. gk 47 Rocklord . | not gift m S ?. > g > 1 J — f. i" ■ « X O rt ^ . M em r ■ _i ► e ^\ * fV 4> Elgin Cherry Valley Belvidere CampEpwor'h GardenPrairie Marengo Winnebago Pecatonica Ridotl Freepori Roscoe Rockton Union Huntley Beloit Janesville Gilberts JAN. FEB. I JULY AUG. | SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. MAR. 1 Book No. 506 (O ..ur r..-.l|>t li>r far. puld to the million Indicated. C.r.R. 1 410«JM punch Htm > From To I From 1 To * Rocklord 1* PrairieView * * Eastmoretand * * Stone Quarry * * Rathke * * Gossard * Belvidere * • Voecks * • imunl o( Far* P»m * Deflwood * CENTS * Hate * 5 1 lO 2 IS 3 * ttt * 20 4 25 * Cherry Valley * J3C> 3S 40 * Edgewood * * ' Jan. Feb. Mar. ! L: a \ * \ • I I ? » 9 10 It 1? 13 14 April May June 16l7ttl9W2 , July Aug. Sep' ?2 2t 24 26 2G 27 28 Oct. Nov. Dec. " 30 31 1925 26, 48 ;:. Elgin, Belvidere*, Rocklord Ry.Co. i Elam. B-I.i J-'- ft Rocklord Rj Co. a ROCKFORD | IT ELGIN Via KIM Ii i \AI rn Elgin, Belvidere & Rocklord Railway Co. r^ GNfr'DAY>'$flEOAiL- B __ BELVIDERE 0« To FORM fcRR R2 MARENGO - — Elgin, Belvidere & Roektord Railway Co. *> ©r*T^ORPC»W ©• F MARENGO r rom To BELVIDERE FORM KRR R2 c^ rn ROCKFORD o — COYNE a o 3" _«> = ^ m -i o ^.~ CHERRY > © o o E HUNTLEY VALLEY X o n o S 8 2. * "* ■I •-■ O a. o o-2 Pn <: S5H 1 *m ■-<■ O Marengo Snyders Union Smiths Huntley Freeman Gilberts Almora Elgin 239 Elgin, Belvidere & Rock'im Rj. Co, EI(Jin. B"l>in>" * HoiHord R> Co. m BELVIDERE | ELGIN — S-177 I \ A l. i^-nii u Eliiu, Belvidere & RocHoril RAILWAY CO. GOOD FOK ONE' FIRST CLASS PASSAGE BELVIDERE CHICAGO When stamped by Company's Anent and presented with coupons attached, In accordance with the following conditions. 1st ft HOCKFOHO RAILWAY ELGIN. BELVIOERE 3d. It Is Miljjpcl to 1 ! " -* ■ tiutl^ of I may be exchn ■ ■• I hj I ■■ •■ i ' >n< M any ... i . aucb rug ■! - Ions Ho Agent or employe has power to mod- tty this Contract in any paiticular. u<3 (7 \ Elgin. Belvidere &- Rockfoid Ry. Co, ICHICAGO AURORA S> ELGIN R R. CO. m ELGIN I CHICAGO V"l:i I i'.v I! I Vs. I. ' Elgin. Belvidere &. Rockford Ry.Co, Eloio. Belvidere h Rocklord Ry Co 09 BELVIDERE t ELGIN S-177 !•-..< toomMMmmsm ELGIN ft BELVIDERE ELECTSIC CO o j w BELVIDE c >S 3C :i ELGIN »3 e3i R-505 mm'.r&3h *l V ia i;\ 1. Ka 11 z '.. ^!d:».l::,l;ll!...:iH:i;t:^;i l «.|' ROCKFORD ft INTERURBAN RY. CO. ROCKFCSD BEL.IDERE 3j R-505 ^ONE PASSAGE ^ nc oooo ir ocT*CMto . i . i \ I ; CM Elgin, Belvidere f* Rockford HaUwa) Co. ONJLDA fc.^C Qtvid [■ one ^' nttnuousi passe Kr,m ROCKFORD MARENGO To A few of the ticket forms used on the E&B line. CAR BARN LOGAN, TO ELGIN *£■ ELGIN BELVIDERE S ROCKFORD RY by F. J. MISEK SIXTH It is unbelievable enough that a town so small as Belvidere, Illinois should have a street railway at all, much less that it would be able to survive from 1895 to June 30, 1915. 49 The Rockford shops were considered a model of modern practice when built. Light Jackson & Sharp, Barney & Smith and St. Louis-built interurbans were Rockford & Interurban's main coach stock initially. Above: Belvidere station Right: Freeport terminal Below right: Wartime use of superannuated ex- New York El steam coaches. 50 THE ROCKFORD LINES: One of the most interesting small systems in Illinois was that centering at Rockf ord and a de- tailed research is being organized into a thoro bulletin soon to be published by the Electric Railway Historical Society. Since this work will effectively cover this property the Rockford sec- tion of B-99 is confined largely to photos and timetable material. We are glad to recommend the ERHS bulletin in advance of its publication. Horse cars began operation in Rockford in 1881 and were replaced by electric cars in 1889- The Rockford k Belvidere Electric Railway Company was incorporated January 23, 1899 and placed its 15 miles of line in operation on May 1, 1902. A close operating arrangement was set up for thru service between Elgin and Rockford in con- junction with the Elgin k. Belvidere line. The Rockford fc Freeport Electric Railway was incorporated April 8, 1901 and in 1904 completed its 28 miles of line. On September 16, 1902 the Belvidere line was consolidated with the Rockford Railway Light & Power Company to form the Rockford fc Interur- ban Railway. The Freeport line was acquired in August 31, 1904 and the Janesville line on April 1, 1906. The interurban lines were abandoned during 1930 and 1931. Under the name Rockford Public Service Company city operations by street car continued until July 4, 1936. — rv Let this be a lesson to us: never, never, try to board a speeding trolley car; especially not an open bench car flying 'round a sharp curve. At top are three rather poor views of the second batch of Rockford interurbans -- those built by Niles — as they appeared when new. BP « V •< f ' «*|P7 " ; JF ?». 707, t4*v P.eg. § «: r ' c ^ id < « 3 3 < ° & g 8 ->H.P -' 3^. ^«aa, •v 3 R, - O fZ8 The Niles-built group of interurbans emerged from a prewar (#1) rebuilding longer and handsomer than built. 53 ILLINOIS BIJBCTmiC RAILWAY! ILLINOIS BLBCTKIO RAILWAYS Rockford & Interurban Railway Company SCHEDULE OF TRAINS Effective Sunday, August 24, 1919 ROCKFORD TO FREEPORT J..-. ROCKFORD Lv. WINNEBAGO " j PECATONICA " noon FREEPORT Ar. 5 15 7 00| 8 3010 00] 11 30l 5 35 7 301 9 00 10 30 12 Oot 5 50i 7 45| 9 1510 45| 12 15i 6 03 1 8 00: 9 3011 00! 12 30J 6 25 H 20 9 SO 11 20 12 50 1 00 1 30 1 45 2 00 2 20| jofToofgsofi 00 4 39 6 00 1 5 JO 6 05 6 00| 6 32 4 45 6 IS 6 46 6 0O •SOI* 7 00 7 30 7 45 8 00 8 20 8 30 10 00 9 00* 10 30 9 15 10 45 9 30 1 1 00 9 SO' 11 20 1130, 12 00| 12 is| 12 301 12 SO Sunday Schedule— First car West to Freeport leaves Rockford 7£Oa.m. FREEPORT TO ROCKFORD FREEPORT RID0TT PECATONICA " WINNEBAGO " ROCKFORD Ar. 6 35 7 45] 9 60 11 2ft 12 SOJ 2 Sunday Schedule— First car leaves Freeport East 6:30 A m. ROCKFORD TO JANESVILLE I A M ROCKFORD Lv. 5 40| 7 Oil 8 00 9 00 10 00] 11 00 12 00 1 00 6 UK 7 36 8 36 9 36] 10 36] 11 36 12 3'i 1 36 2 00] 3 00 4 00, 5 00 6 Ooj 7 00 8 00 2 3ft 3 36 4 36 5 36. 6 36, 7 36 8 36 9 00] 10 00 11 15 R0SC0E 9 36 10 36 11 49 R0CKT0N 6 20l 7 45 8 45 9 45] 10 45 11 45 12 45] 1 45 12 00J 1 m 2 00 2 45,3 45 4 45 5 45, 6 45 7 45] 8 45 9 45! 10 45 1158 BaoiT 5 50 6 35J 8 00| 9 00 10 00 11 00 3 004 005 00:6 00] 7 00] 8 00; 9 00,10 00 110012 10 JANESVILLE Ar. 6 32 7 20J 8 451 9 45 10 45] 11 45 12 45J 1 45 2 45 3 45, 4 45 5 15 6 15 7 45 8 45 9 45 10 45] 11 45 Sunday Schedule -First carl. aves Rockford North to Beloit and Janesvllle 7:OQ a. m. First car leaves Beloit to Janesvllle 6:00 a. m. JANESVILLE TO ROCKFORD AM 1 P.M. 1 P. M. ] P. M. ] P M. ] p. a. | p». p...| '•"• ! '"■ pm. p.. JANESVILLE Lv. I 5 50J 6 40 7 55 1 8 55| 9 55] 10 55 11 55 12 55 1 55 2 55J 3 65 4 55 5 55 1 6 55, 7 55 9 15 10 16 11 OS BELOIT " | 6 40 6 35 7 43 8 43, 9 43, 10 431 1143 12 43i 1 43| 2 43 3 43 4 43J 5 43 6 43] 7 43 8 43 10 0011 00 11 46 R0CKT0N 5 50 6 46 7 55 8 55 9 65] 10 55, 11 55 12 55: 1 55 2 55] 3 55 4 55] 6 55 6 65 7 55 8 55 10 13 11 13 R0SC0E 5 58 6 53 8 05 9 05] 10 05: 11 05! 12 05 1 06J 2 05] 3 05| 4 05J 5 05: 1 40] 2 40 3 40! 4 40 5 40 6 05 7 05i 8 05 9 05 10 21 1121 ROCKFORD Ar. 6 35 7 35 8 11 9 40 10 40; 11 40 12 40 640 7 40, 8 40| 9 40 10,55 11 55 Sunday Schedule— Firstcar leav ■Hie South 8:40 s First car leaves Beloit South 6:o5 a. 1 ROCKFORD TO BELVIDERE ROCKFORD Lv. Cherry Valley " BELVIDERE Ar. 6 40 8 10 9 30 11 40 12 10 12 23 12 40 1 10 123 1 40 2 10 tl) 3 40 4 40 4 10! 6 10 4 23 5 23 -ll^L 5 45! 6 55 6 15 7 23 6 25| 7 35 9 20 11 15 9 45 1145| 10 00 12 ( Sunday Schedule— First car leaves East to Belvldere 6-00 a Oddity of the Rockford fleet -- this Kuhlman-built job, also lengthened and strengthened at the R & I shops . BELVIDERE TO ROCKFORD AM ».«. p.. P.M. | P.M. p - P.M. | P.M. P.M. P.M. P M. 1 BELMDERE Lv. 6 55 6 40 Cherry Valley " 6 osi 6 S5 ROCKFORD Ar. 6 40 7 25 8 10 8 24 9 30 11 25] 12 30 9 45| 11 38 12 43 10 15 12 05 1 10 130 143 2 10 2 30 4 30 2 43, 4 43 3 10 S 10 5 30 5 43 6 10 6 30] 7 35 6 43 7 48 7 10J 8 15 8 30 8 43 9 10 10 00 1013 10 40 12 00 12 13 12 40 Sunday Schedule-First car to Rockford 6:00 A r WiTC ■■■Elf r^" 1 I i i i i w*< ISi I tr^B ■■ IK HE j»fe j- . » ^W/SM VBHRi vv *Sk. ,„ ^B^^ --^B w ., Ubmsj lie in^ lis 1 Eg J^^JI-_: taU ^^Hf CENTRAL ILLINOIS ELECTRIC & GAS CO. ' AIM*/ , 56 fllr.lll«! $**">— The final Rockford interurban fleet consisted of seven one-man light weight cars built by American Car Company. They were distinctive for the unusually deep windows all around and for their interior indirect lighting and flat, bus-like rear ends. Only car 300 was double-ended. They wound up on the Oklahoma Railway lines. i». BN ri;?^ - £ ; - * FEB M pt^Uggsi Rockford & Interurban freight motor 157 was once equipped with third- rail shoes, but the objective was operation in the Elgin yards of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railroad rather than thru service to Chicago. It is seen here after interurban days had ended, standing in the Rockford caryard as a sandhouse. 'p/ieefiont St*eet ^cUlcvay Syttem \ R&I to Rockf ord The Freeport Railway & Light Co. was incorporated on August 20, 1910 as a consolidation of the Freeport Railway Light & Power Co. and Freeport Rail- way & Light Co. A municipal franchise was granted in 1903 for 20 years and in 1907 for 30 years. Cars of the Rockf ord & Interurban Railway entered Freeport over its tracks under a 50-year traffic agreement. In 1917 the company, which also did a general lighting and power business, became the Illinois Northern Utilties Co. , and operated under this name until aban- donment came in 1933. 59 :s ^B. £ *sr CHICAGO AURORA & DEKALB RAILROAD: The Chicago Aurora & DeKalb Railroad was in- corporated July 20, 1909 to acquire by foreclo- sure the Aurora DeKalb & Rockford Electric Traction and electrify this 25-mile line. The tiny single-truck gasoline motor cars were replaced by handsome interurban cars operating from the new 600-volt DC trolley. An extension of 31 miles to Rockford was under consideration. Electrification did not prove to be the hoped-for j stimulus to traffic and bankruptcy came in 1922,' followed by abandonment with the last car leaving both terminals at 11:15 PM on January 31, 1923. The line remained intact for several months while efforts were made to resume service, but the junk bid proved the best. The line had 3 passenger cars and 2 box motors, all built by American Car Company to the design developed for the Joliet & Southern lines. Car 205 of the Elgin & Belvidere interurban, borrow- ed to handle some forgotten traffic problem, was badly damaged in an accident and car 24 of the DeKalb line was sent to the E&B later in settle- ment of the bill. There its shell could be seen as late as 1932, while most other traces of the CA & DK were long since gone. CET "■"I'LJIA J — T T" ~fr ^S -i*P* >*ft££fL* ^ »■•«/ SB- l 8 ^^ "/ 3: *2li^T-l- — ~Z. •'•■25/^7~ ■ ,-... FEB. [^SMCm» , l \ 1"V DEKALB-SYCAMORE: The 7.5-mile electric railway linking these two cities was incorporated June 30, 1906 and began operations as the DeKalb, Sycamore & Interurban Traction Company. The line was standard gage and operated with 550-volt DC trolley with 4 motor and 2 trailer cars (1914). A receiver was appointed in the early 1920s. Service ended August 31st, 1924 with an unusual arrangement whereby the Trustee agreed to sell the city portions to the municipalities for con- tinued operation, but nothing ever came from this. FEB. AMBOY - LEE CENTER The Northern Illinois Electric Railway was incorporated July 1 , 1901 with a plan to connect Amboy to DeKalb by interurban. Progress was slow but on October 1 1910 (see photos above) car number 1, said to have been acquired from Chicago Union Traction made the first public trip from Amboy to the eastern terminal of Lee Center, about 11^ miles. On July 8 1914 the road was sold at foreclosure to the Lee County Central Railroad. Lee County's large interurban car #10 probably was one of the group built by AC&F at Jeffersonville for the Louisville-New Albany bridge line where it was replaced by wide gage cars that could run into Louis- ville. LCC electric operation ended in the 20s, but the line exists today for freight, powered by a gas loco. s ~ MM ■ * E CIT \ • ■ i lL ■tM^ 1 mmm - I . i 11 I.Ol I S \ II. I.i: \NV 101 I 63 64 KEOKUK ELECTRIC COMPANY Under the name of Keokuk & Western Illinois Electric Co., a branch of the Keokuk, Iowa street railway system was constructed across the Mis- sissippi River into Hancock County, Illinois, in the early 1900s. The line was built as far as Warsaw and Hamilton. An extension of 1Z miles eastward to Carthage was contemplated, but -was never built. Keokuk cars left the city streets in Keokuk and went onto Wabash Railroad steam tracks, cross- ing the Mississippi on the Bridge of the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Co. At the Illinois end of this bridge, a branch left the Wabash tracks and ex- tended one mile into the town of Hamilton. The main line in Illinois left the Wabash tracks and ran down-river on the tracks of the Toledo Peo- ria & Western Railway toward Warsaw. At the edge of Warsaw, the line separated from TP&W tracks and climbed the river bluff into town. Cars operating over the tracks of the two steam railroads were subject to steam road rules, and were considered second-class trains. Population, and resulting traffic density were relatively light in the area so the Keokuk system early felt the effect of the private automobile. Abandonment of the interstate service came on May 11, 1928. One substantially built steel inter- urban car was sold to Toledo &; Indiana Railway, and when that road went under just before the War, this car finished out its days on Georgia Power Company inter urban lines out of Atlanta. Rock Island-Moline .. These Schedules clip These . .„ me ,ecessa r yf h ^, Ci tvV" lYourStree \ /-i; h Th< r i ih These ~> c „„« 0«M <:: rt -n^r e^« ^nconveni- evening)''; ' tt t the sc» e0 effects* • - Aug"*' Effect „* -— !£.- ..,1,0 S»»?"'l .10. »■" . _„„» 40 ' V , „ wW^i S « »° d «0 ">'"»"* w .v* VJ"'^.V«. •■ 4 °- „, o„d «£ fo »«»»* Hind «"",.« »» d ,«3' »:«» *V«»'° 8 * tit #■ '-• *" " .—» liSi.fe^ 5 P ' M - v ?.«« **"»$ **&&- »° l " . 90 ,.d.». :.#?;*. ifa«e *• b vn an d e „„« a*" 1 ,„.a u" 1 ' 1 * . east. = .-..&&, Leave * p ve r>ltvP^'. . v M- Tbl rly „rt evevy iy 5€^--i:.::: r r.s=.s;,: T *nth sl ,,, !\.w- V-. u ntl> i» ^inu te8 %0 ROCK ISLAND CAR LINES: Horse car operation began in Rock Island in 1866, a year before a similar operation came to its sister city of Davenport, Iowa. In 1886 a third company built a line from Rock Island to Moline. Electrification began in Davenport in 1885, and after the properties were merged in 1888 elec- trification proceeded to completion in 1890. Additional lines, including an interstate route on the lower level of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railway's Mississippi River bridge, were built. In March 1906 the Tri-City Railway & Light Company was incorporated and acquired control of various utility operations including the rail- ways, with 132 miles of track in all. The Moline, East Moline & Watertown Railway was incorporated in 1901 to build a suburban line along the high bluffs of the east bank of the Mississippi between the towns of its name. On November 13, 1902 the 9.6 mile line was opened and 18 cars were placed in service. In addition to the city and suburban railway lines, the company managed interurban lines in Iowa linking Clinton, Davenport and Muscatine, and a city line in Muscatine. However, it did not operate the street railway in Clinton. The sys- tem was controlled by the United Light & Rys. Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Buses were introduced on new extensions be- ginning in 1920 and began to replace cars on some lines in 1937. The last street cars were operated on the Bridge line in 1940. PS -iiiiSiiW 65 66 ) JACKSON C INDIAN MOUND PK. J OAK ILLINOIS SOLDIERS a SAILORS HOME QUINCY HORSE RAILWAY & CARRYING CO. SYCAMORE ELM - HAMPSHIRE ADAMS SOUTH b PARK b HIGHLAND PK. 9 CEDAR L_i- CHESTNUT , SPRUCE L 1 -G BROADWAY -^ MAINE ■^o _ J r j STATE \ N d WASHINGTON CITY LIMITS QUINCY, ILLINOIS 5'-0" GAUGE For photos of Quincy, see CERA Bulletin 98. JOHN E. MERRIKEN 67 ROCK ISLAND SOUTHERN LINES: This line had its beginnings in the Western Illinois Traction Company which was building a route paralleling the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad between Monmouth and Galesburg. It passed under the Santa Fe Railroad at Cameron, about midway, where a carbarn and power house were built. In April, 1905, the Rock Island Sou- thern Railway was incorporated to acquire and complete the project. Original equipment of the road included three Pullman green 52 ft. single-end passenger cars, lettered in gold and numbered Z01 -203. They were purchased from the St. Louis Car Company in 1906 at a cost of $6500 each. In 1907 St. Louis also furnished box motor 301. The first passenger service was given on May 30, 1906. Operating voltage was 600 DC. WCJ *•'.• ;v' ;' rf i» 6 WP ' .//ff^riwiSsp^ .---''$r~fii ysssif?*'™** S~ «**>, : ,/'// rowHtozl-cZtwe «? ^ fZ> g^---^f- - e - i a -■>- •* PH f \ /fflTMS"* 6 | <^-""\ 1 < «y.-5 -: , o.',' / , § ?/)ifX/3 , &., i ] \ 44 a>' ' : / • V |(;' ,.-V '^w-^a ', ' 1 / '* J i.''.' Map of Rock Island-Southern System with Connections In the meantime, the construction of a main line worthy of the name Rock Island Southern was under way as rails were laid north from Mon- mouth toward Rock Island. On May 30, 1910 the first passenger train, a borrowed CB&Q open- platform coach pulled by American type steam locomotive 100, left Monmouth. Electric opera- tion began in November, using the high-voltage single-phase AC system, designed by Westing- house. Passenger cars 300-305, 62 ft. Niles-built beauties, were originally used on the Washington Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railroad but be- came available when that road made terminal changes that required smaller cars. There were Pope Creek Trestle two box motors, but most freight operation was handled by the two steam engines. There were 75 coal cars, 10 box cars and 10 flats. Two ca- booses (401 and 402) built in 1912 by Calumet Car Company were supplemented in 1936 by ex- Santa Fe crummy 600. Power for this line was supplied by the subsid- iary Edwards River Power Company from a steam generating plant just south of Matherville. Entrance to Rock Island was obtained by using a leased branch of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. Population density in this part of Illinois was quite light and passenger traffic never amounted to a profitable level. Freight business kept the pike alive until major renewals were required. At the end of the first World War in 1918 the DC division was reorganized as the Galesburg & Western and car 240 was purchased from the Tri-City lines at Davenport. The Cameron barn and power house was destroyed and equipment was maintained at Monmouth thereafter. A fire at the Monmouth barn cost two of the G&W cars and three of the AC cars as well as freight mo- tor 301. 68 BIS The Rock Island Southern Railroad was the DC powered division between Monmouth and Galesburg. The steel box motor below served earlier interurban roads at Buffalo and Detroit. LEB De-electrification of the AC line brought enough salvage cash to carry the system along on a freight-only basis for a few more years. The DC line continued electric operation, with car 202 cut down to a locomotive car capable of pulling one or two freight cars over the lightly-built rocky rails. When 202 finally fell apart in 1934, car 2014, a Kuhlman-built steel box motor, was acquired from the Eastern Michigan Railways system at Detroit, but was wrecked en route its new home and had to be replaced by 2012. In 1940 car 800, acquired from Moline, suc- ceeded the 2012 as the Galesburg engine; it in turn was replaced by Differential Dump Car 0035 acquired from Kansas City in 1947. Operation of the Galesburg line ended March 30, 1951. The north line operated by steam until Febru- ary 1952, altho its rails gradually receded from Monmouth as bridges over the deep gullies rotted away. For example, in 1929 fire damaged the bridge near Burgess and cut the line there. WCJ Timetable: LEB oh S3 ■J2.o ill. "N o Oh -w o a.' C a-a.j; as a m °«B ° £ rt > aj t - ■s°„- 3 <£T3 *** «o*> S.S.gJ&Sg. g§ 5bIs lll-s -a -a 9 o &1 S * d E 8 cs « g a ,-8 g •sS.a 2 .a.5« "I "...^ = -lo 3 1« --« l g r 'I gMaa;^"- 3.2 yd§ • a. «s Hfti to . 4 ft! S<* ■:* ««j m ass. M O 3 O o-a-go « 3 ^■a a ° u ^ ^J^ 85-0 £ K;b ■o a.2 g S 0, g E 3 I o = <8 t, 5.2* O a -£3 •*- 3 O C/3 H3 a o as -2 s a w s -« a w © ce o 5 a as ■*-» O S o .S3 = *J3 3 .2 « ^ < < B a o a ju as w z UJ va <: Q- < > « ^ as x © H^ 00 t-> o CO as x a o -5 u o as 72 WBC ©I ^3 .2 Hi P<2 «| Gfi.a W o Ml W « eg SO -Six; 51 s go a; c Qhh; m o aO<; 2|5s gCU«i 2^3 » OQ J ei-33 V = M CM <3 OQ j 50 >» « go «x; rl a c|QhS Os-os OX OC0MC0M00O« ai o Oio^ooiooe20!S j 1/; 10 10 io "I ^" ^ ' O >0 .-. cc »o Q d WCOMWWWNNM ar 3 CO d < M H '16 < o s gf p< Q 2 -S Soora P< Q 0»0 H00«OOmOg y. -« , S"OH«u:omo2 > O) OS-O) OOQO) 00<0«0»OOOlftO S'OCD®tO©tO(03 t^t^t^t^t^t^f-OOCO (Q^w^nti't-ti^i S 2 £J S t "^ w »o p l*odooodo6ddddac« • lONONONOO 4100006660 2!-« a* s 3 5! • as 2 lil-g e a >< ° u"0 «0h O « » a © 5 s "J "'E °S 3 g ON q d * a> w -a ** ° ll = §|.§ J fill 73 3 3 J I- If! a STATE , rios r* 74 • I Kankakee Electric Railway / ^fc- ^ - . KANKAKEE CITY LINES: The Kankakee Electric Railway was chartered in March 1900, and with its subsidiary, the Kan- kakee & Western R. R. Co., built 12 miles of city car lines to West Kankakee, State Hospital, Big Four Depot, East Court Street and Electric Park, and planned to extend 8 miles out to Chebanse. In recent years cars met on Court Street be- tween East Avenue and'Schuyler every 20 minutes. The Big Four line was thru routed with the State Hospital line. The outer end of the Electric Park line had a loop, and single-end car #31 was con- fined to this route. Car 14 had controls to permit opening the left side doors and this was used to allow safe hand- ling of passengers off the highway on the side-of- the-road West Kankakee line. A second company, the North Kankakee Elec. Light & Railway Co., incorporated in May 1892, Connected thru Bradley to St. Viator's College in Bourbonnais, 4.5 miles. It had 7 motor cars. 6.M P.M. rtiis Coupon denotes that lour punched on body 3* transfer is >.M. HOUR Not good if detached THE KANKAKEE ELECTRIC RAILWAY CO. If no Coupon attached Hour punched Hi A. M. HOUR 100013 Miut it by Conductor - er co « ho X MAIN ^T -0 HALL TWELFTH CIT( UMlTS n NORTHERN ILLINOIS LIGHT & TRACTION CO. OnAWA For photos of Ottawa, see CERA Bulletin 98 FRANK J. MISEK 7Q CANTON- FAIRVIEW-FARMINGTON: Chartered in Illinois in 1903, the Illinois Cen- tral Electric Railway operated 33 miles of track with 7 motor and 10 other cars. Primarily an interurban trolley road, it also operated a feeble city service in the town of Canton. Altho there were only a few cars, interest was heightened by variety in types, which ranged from fragile little suburbans up to the massive arch-roofed combination baggage-passenger car built by Am- erican Car Company in 1913. Historical notes show that the first 4.67 miles of line was placed in service early in 1907 and, on December 10, 1912, the first car entered Lew- iston, completing the road. Operations ceased July 25, 1928 and the road was scrapped. Interurban, Fairview, III For photos of Galesburg, see CERA Bulletin 98 Walsh by Robt. V. Mehlenbeck All inter.urban and street car lines not otherwise marked are Illinois Power & Light Corpn. State Colony 5 i a - b 6 STERLING, DIXON 8 EASTERN ELECTRIC RY. CO. N STERLING FrelghtMicaei office gsDfcE n >-y to Dixon Bar n Mineral 3pringB _Pjgk^ RIVER ~ ~~~ - ROCK FALLS For more on Sterling and Dixon see page 82. DIXON Cars ran CfcNW to Assembly Park State Colony car separate from city operation 81 STERLING-DIXON LINES: The Sterling Dixon & Eastern Traction Com- pany was chartered August 23, 1902 to build city lines in the two towns of its name and an inter- urban railway connecting them. Operation began in May 1904. The interurban road was 16.29 miles in length and had two passenger and one express car. The city lines brought the mileage total to 17.5 and added 7 closed and 2 open city cars. Operations were discontinued September 17, 1925. BN 82 PEORIA PEORIA RAILWAY COMPANY DIVISION OF ILLINOIS TRACTION SYSTEM Street Railway Routes - 1920 A. D. A Adams B Bradley (*) H Country Club (*) East Peoria E Elizabeth Galena Road G Garden Glen Oak (*) H Heights (*) K Hurlburt K Knoxvllle L Lincoln L Monroe M Main (*) 2 Second S Sixth (») (*) Lines Serving Union Depot Route letters carried on roof ilgns. a/r - Side of Road p. r.w. - Private Right of Way bv Wm. For photos of Peoria, see CERA Bulletin 98. Railway Terminal Peoria 192 ° t R PicicerinF Pass ;;£. asportation. PEORIA - PEKIN LINE: The Peoria & Pekin Traction Company was incor- porated August 26, 1897 to build a car line connect- ing the two cities. In May 1899 the name was changed to Peoria & Pekin Terminal and construction pro- ceeded to completion with the first thru car running from Peoria to Pekin on April 2, 1900. On October 28, 1906 the line was placed in receiv- ership and on May 1, 1907 it was reorganized as the Peoria Railway Terminal Company. The original American Car Company built equipment was complete- ly destroyed, along with the car barn, in a tragic fire and it became necessary to rent Peoria 800-class street cars to run the service until new equipment could be delivered by McGuire-Cummings. Electric equipment in later years consisted of passenger cars 76 and 81-85, snowplow S-l and line car 103. Freight operation was carried on by steam, and the line became very attractive as a terminal and switching carrier. The Chicago & Alton and Rock Island Railroads which controlled it developed this phase of the business actively. When passenger op- erations became unprofitable and were abandoned, on August 30, 1924, the electrification was dismantled. The road is operated today as a branch of the Rock Island. WCJ Here's the complete order of cars 81-85 ready to be hauled away from the McGuire-Cummings plant at Paris, Illinois. 85 PEKIN MUNICIPAL RAILWAY This property began as the battery-operated Pekin & Petersburg Interurban Railway with a plan to build an 8-mile line. Incorporated in November 1910, it began operation August 23, 1911. It went into receivership May 12, 1913 and was sold in foreclosure to a committee of bondholders who reorganized it as the Pekin Street Railway. On August 21, 1914 the voters of Pekin passed a bond issue to purchase the line and convert it to trolley operation, also to extend it to Mineral Springs Park. Three cars were purchased from the West Chicago St. R. R. In recent years equipment consisted of two Brill single truckers and three Birneys. The line was converted to bus operation November 11, 1935. for map of Pekin, see Page 90. WCJ v 1 ' FEB - ftB P5 1 -<.«-'; 'M ".'. - 86 LINCOLN STREET RAILWAY Trolley car operation of the Lincoln Street Railway began on Christmas Day, 1891, on 4| miles of track representing three lines: I. C. Depot, Woodlawn, State School and Colony. From the beginning four cars were used in regular ser- vice, one each on the first two lines and two on the latter. In winter closed cars were used, while in summer open cars worked the service. The cars were painted yellow-orange and all but one was of single-truck design. Half-hourly service was given except on the I.C. Depot line which had a 15-minute interval. In 1907 a fund of $6000 was raised by subscrip- tion to extend the State School line more than a mile to reach the Chautauqua grounds. This ex- tension was never owned by the company, although cars were operated on it during Chautauqua sea- son. Seven additional car s were rented for these occasions from the Springfiled Street Railway. They were brought up to Lincoln under their own power on the tracks of the Illinois Traction Sys- tem. Since there was no track connection be- tween the interurban and city lines in Lincoln, it was necessary to derail-and-rerail the cars, either near the intersection of the two lines at Broadway and Chicago Street or where they came close together at Wyatt "Y" and South Kickapoo Street. The Chicago & Alton Railway (now GM&O) re- fused to allow their rails to be cut for the in- stallation of crossing frogs, so the street car rails were raised enough so the flanges could jump the railroad rail. Inroads of the private automobile were being felt in the early 1 920s and when bankruptcy came, J.R.Pattonof Atlanta purchased the system and gave it up after a year. The City took over the line and leased it to the Central Illinois Gas & Electric Company at a dollar-a-year . After more promotional efforts, including monthly passes, service was discontinued in the late 1920s. ,22ND ST LINCOLN STREET RY. POWER HOUSE a CAR BARN STATE SCHOOL 8 COLONY CHAUTAUQUA _(SROUNDS WYATT STATE SCHOOL iCOLONYLINE 87 WCJ BLOOMINGTON, PONTIAC & JOLIET ELECTRIC RAILWAY A. K. SELLS. Bap«. SOUTH ll(irM) vorth mn'M) rotatory . ■ IC • : I ! 1 11 ::, , 33 9:48 11:48 Cayug 12:5.1 7:33 0:53 11:53 Interurban Pk (i ! . Q -i Odell B l 12:10 Virdon i m 8 HI 10 17 12 17 Rtlinn 1 08 (! of) 1 :".':( Ar. Dwicht G 15 4:15 1 ! , 10 12.10 I,v. DwigtaL Viraon Cdell Interurban Pk Cayuga Nolan Pontine. ...... Ar. Raformatory PONTLAC - DWIGHT INTERURBAN: Construction of the Bloomington Pontiac & Jo- liet Electric Railway was begun in 1904 under the supervision of Bion J. Arnold. With the thought in mind of a lengthy road, the designer planned to make a substantial saving in the cost of power converting and distribution equipment by employ- ing the novel system of high-voltage alternating current on the trolley wires. A very crude and simple catenary system was used, with separate northbound and southbound trolley wires, into which power was pumped at 3300 volts 25 cycles. The line from the north edge of Pontiac to Odell, 10.4 miles, was completed and placed in service on March 15, 1905, using one car. Service could not be given into Pontiac because of litigation delaying a crossing with the Wabash Railway at the edge of town until April 23, but in the mean- time a free bus service was given into town with a stage-coach. By 1906 the line was completed into Dwight and a second car was obtained for interurban operations. Later there were two old elevated railway trailers. A city car was also acquired for use on the 2-mile city line thru Pon- tiac to the Reformatory. Grading was also done, and can be seen to this day, on extension to Chenoa. The original car equipment consisted of the two American Car Company light interurban jobs, with 41'-8" by 8'-7j" bodies and Brill-27 trucks. Each car had 4-GE-A605 motors rated 75 hp each and 2-T33A platform controllers. This type of controller gave five running notches by tapping the "compensator" (transformer) at 400, 500, 600, 700 and 800 volts, but the system was designed so that 600 v DC operation could be accommodated by merely adding a suitable set of resistor s in place of the transformer. This evidently became desirable later, as the line was changed to DC around the year 1915. When an accident laid up both its cars, BP&J is said to have maintained service with leased equipment from the Illinois Traction System. On November 24, 1925 the BP&J was author- ized to discontinue operations, which it promptly did, running its last revenue car the following day. fe& 3 ^ o VA P £V<^ O p6 e» no .mcw^ RMV-" O see Page 84-86. see Page 80. SPRINGFIELD On February 1 1861 the first company to pro- vide public transportation in the city of Spring- field , was chartered. Little was done toward actual construction, until about 1865, when the Capital City Horse Railway Company built aline starting at 6th and Monroe, running west on Mon- roe to Walnut then south to Governor, then west to Illinois. On November 1 1 865 the Capital Railway was granted a charter to build a line east on Monroe to the city limits but this line was not built until 1867. In 1866 the Springfield City Railway built a line on North 5th from Mon- roe to Enterprise, and a steam dummy line was constructed north and east from that point to the rolling mills at Ridgeley. On October 28, 1871 the Springfield City Ry. and the Capital Railway were consolidated. On July 19, 1879 a charter was granted to the Citizens Street Ry. to build a line as follows: from 11th and North Grand, west to 9th south to Washington west to 6th south to Capitol west to Znd then south to Allen. Another line was built from South Grand and 11th north to Wash- ington west to 2nd north to Carpenter west to Rutledge, then north to Oak Ridge Cemetery. On July 12 1886 the charter was granted to extend the line to Camp Lincoln. On November 29, 1889, the Peoples Gas Motor & Horse Ry. was incorporated to build a line from 2nd and Allen west to Walnut, then South to South Grand; and another line of the same company was built from 11th and North Grand, to the Fairgrounds with a contract with the Citizens Street Railway to operate their cars over the CSR trackage between those two outlying segments. 90 On April 22, 1893 the Springfield Consolidated Railway was organized to take over and electrify the horse car lines of the Springfield City Ry., and the Peoples Electric Ry. The old horse car barn was located at the southeast corner of 4th and Monroe. Final extensions were built in the early 1900's, and nearly every resident of the city of Spring- field was within easy walking distance of at least one, and often two trolley lines. A number of double truck cars were added to the roster. Be- sides the street railway system, an electric power service was maintained. In 1922 the Illinois Power Company took over both the power, and street railway facilities; and a short time later the first motor bus was put in- to operation. In 1933 the Springfield Transporta- tion was formed, and took over the operation of street cars and busses, while the Central Illinois Light Co. took over the electric service. Grad- ually the street car lines gave way to busses until at 11:30 PM on December 21, 1937, the last car left the square, on Fifth Street for its final run. Twenty-eight of the electric cars were sold to the Abel Company of New York City, 5 were im- mediately resold to South America and 4 to Marion, Indiana. On January 7, 1938, 18 cars still remained at the old carbarn on Ash Street at 6th. Final track removal was started on May 22. 1939; the first removal being at Washington & 10th Street from where the crews worked west along Washington and on 9th, from Washington Street north. Springfield's old-timers included some rather sad junkers as the years wore on to take their toll. SPRINGFIELD CONSOLIDATED RY STREET RAILWAY ROUTES 1 -Lawrence - North 9th 2-Fifth 3-Rutledge - South 11th 4 -Governor - South 8th 5-Country Club - 14th 6 -Washington -South Grand 7 -Spring -East Capital 8 -North 7th 9 -Smelter Line Avrtr © sr*£tr * RxMCSrcK SPRINGFIELD 92 To AT LOUIS, MO, JOB Later Springfield cars received a modernization treatment in the late 1920s which included one -manning. Car 200 was built by the American Car Company and was used for years on the disconnected Smelter Plant line, which connected with Illinois Traction's Peoria- Springfield line at Ridgely Junction. BN llll -TIT ffl^^ l^te^ ?*-^ ■S&mmS^ ~^3i ikaiKBr 1" 1 ! )l II 11 • r • \ i H -V. 1 V SPRINGFIELD- CLEAR LAKE: The Springfield Clear Lake & Rochester Rail- way was organized May 10, 1906 and by June 30, 1909 had its 10.5 mile from Springfield to Roch- ester, with a branch to Clear Lake, in service. By 1910 it was known as the Mississippi Valley Interurban Railway and was allied with the San- gamon Valley Railway and the Hillsboro Street Railway, altogether operating 15 miles of line, with four cars. The line was poorly constructed and even more poorly maintained. On July 18, 1912 the Railroad Commission took notice of this and ordered sus- pension of operation until safe conditions were established. But money for this was not to be had and service was never resumed. SPRINGFIELD SUBURBAN TIME CARD FEBRUARY 1 , 1909. Cars Leave Rochester — 7:15-9:20-11:25 A. M.— 1:30-3:35-5:50-8:00 P. M. Cars Leave Springfield — 8:15-10:20 A. M. 12:30-2:35-4:40-6:50 P. M. Wednesday and Saturday Nights 11:00 P. M. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY Annual Harvest Home Chautauqua The first fourteen days in August every year at Springfield, III., by Clear Lake J. E. MELICK, Gen. MgV, 333 South Douqi.is Ave SPRINGFIELD ILL Interst.ilc Phone 422 Bell Phone -4125 95 -J X K 00 OS 1) 1— I « S w u CD 0) CO CO o o a u o < NIVI/TN J U31S83M O QNVdO NIVWS o u H H O °3 < 3 • W fe J >, J J3 w 03 < x o. r 52 J 96 > g < 97 FEB* MECHANICSBURG-BUFFALO: The Mechanicsburg & Buffalo Rail Road was a narrow gage horse-mule line making the improbable "run" between these two tiny Illinois towns. The route must have seemed very promising, because Illinois Traction System built one of its first branch lines on a paralleling route. The competitive pace was more than the "two motor" M&B cars could stand of course, and it was only a few years before all traces of it had disappeared. While never an electric railway, its unusual nature certainly warrants this brief record. 98 (3U1JJED pU3) IS pJOJpooM N r \4- (3UU JBD pU3) r- -j I 00 OS 0) < w u CO CO o ■♦-> o a *-. o 99 1 ILLINOIS POWER & LIGHT CORP. (City lines) and ILLINOIS TERMINAL RAILROAD CO. (Interurban lines) LINCOLN WILLOW N MULBERRY NORTH VERNON For photos, see CERA Bulletin 98. % N sSP # v DIVISION 1 SEMINARY V 1 WALNUT lOHESTNUT I M «* # tf # MARKET WOOD L_. MONROE JEFFERSON WASH INGTON FRONT o en ZT OD O L 100 > JACKSON — _J ILLINOIS POWER & LIGHT COBPN ■ FRANK I. fcOSEK 00 ■—i < K w u CD CO (0 o -t-> o a o 101 CEK St. Louis-built double-truck Birney type 242 ran out the last few months of K&UT's existence as a one-man car. Later it was sold to the Third Avenue Railway System in New York City. SDH . Brill interurban originally built for the Wilkes Barre & Hazleton Railway became K&UT 202 (?) shown above at Peoria & Eastern Ry., Urbana, K&UT EQUIPMENT: (Source: Official Railway Equipment Register, 1923 Issue.) 8 Box trailer cars Nos. 250-258 (?) 4 " 6050-6054 (?) 2 Flat trailer cars 300, 301 3 Gondola trailer cars 200-202 1 Electric Box Motor 50 (50 ft. long) 3 Elec. Motor Passenger 100-102 1 Elec. Trail Passenger 150 Railroad interchanges: Rantoul, with Illinois Central R.R. Urbana, with Wabash and Illinois Traction. I St URBANA-RANTOUL-PAXTON LINE: Incorporated August 20, 1909, the Kankakee & Urbana Traction Company was known as the "Uni- versity Route'', for the chief claim to fame of Urbana, seat of the University of Illinois. The project was sponsored by local interests, who undoubtedly hoped to enjoy the kind of success that was being accorded the neighboring Illinois Traction lines. However, they apparently lacked the strength to push construction rapidly, and while construction began in 1912 and track reached Rantoul in January 16, 1913, it was not until May 1, 1916 that the next 10 miles to Pax- ton were completed. In all the line extended 25 miles northward from Urbana. New car equipment was not for K&UT-- its first cars were surplus from Wilkes Barre & Hazleton Railway, then later it seems to have acquired some American Car Company crafts- manship from the ill-fated Alton- Jer seyville line. During most of its life the road ran about 8 round trips daily. For a time in 1924 there were only 3 trips thru to Paxton, running express be- tween Rantoul and Urbana. In a final effort to lower costs, two lightweight cars were bought from St. Louis Car Company, but traffic fell away faster than costs. Freight service to two elevators along the line could not fill the gap and so in January 1926 the company went into receivership. On March 26, 1926 the court ordered suspen- sion of service and at 2:00 PM on the afternoon of that day service ended as the early afternoon car from Paxton rolled into the Urbana barn. This is actually as close as the unknown photographer came to getting all of car 244 in the picture as it inched into the Urbana car barn. Compare this to the Alton- Jerseyville #100 shown on page 111. 103 104 DANVILLE STREET RAILWAY & LIGHT CO. For photos, see CERA Bulletin 98. ROBERT V. MEHLENBECK WCJ A SECTION OF MAIN STKEET, SHOWING THE BUSINESS HOUSES OPPOSITE THE COURT HOUSE, PARIS, ILLINOIS l SUGAR CHEEK 1 — l— t- k T.H.La.E.T CO.. TO TERRE HAUTE PARIS PARIS TRACTION CO. (C.I PS) by F. J. Misek Southern Illinois Ry. , Rosiclaire, 111. 105 cvH TOP, down: C.I. T. #12 on shop trucks at Cincinnati Car Co. plant. Builder's photo of 207 at McGuire Cummings plant. Cincinnati-type car brings out the crowd. N BROADWAY TO CHARLESTON MATTOON. ILL. CENTRAL ILLINOIS TRACTION by F. J. Mlsek iVrf& -^^ Jilfca fcrws >^-*--*4^ " Hw -Jp' ^D^^ ■_ " -i^L - — ■('< * )W _g- *"^l^ & 'ImB wk , M t b($ royp (ccc a stlI r r , PA/T/ULLlL TO tlP (OLIVE) I TO MATTOOM BELOW: City equipment thru the years was confined to single-truckers in both Mattoon and Charleston. CHARLESTON CENTRAL ILLINOIS TRACTION CO by Paul Strlngb-i RICHLAND CREEK For more on Belleville, see page 112 et seq. . ya*"ii . . B STREET f k. -% N BELLEVILLE E. ST. LOUIS L SUBURBAN RY. CO. by F J MlMk WALNUT HILL MATTOON- CHARLESTON: The Mattoon City Railway was incorporated in 1902 and in 1903 and 1904 it built street railway lines in both Mattoon and Charleston as well as aninterurban road, the Central Illinois Traction Company, closing the 10-mile gap between the two towns with 600-volt DC electric railway. OnAugust30, 1907 at 10:30 PM a two-car train plowed head-on into a single car after rounding a blind curve, killing 18 and injuring 50 people. The 'wreck, caused by a confusion in train orders, was one of the worst in interurban railway his- tory and the resultant claims brought the com- pany into receivership. The property was controlled by the Central Illinois Public Service Company, which also held the local street railway at Paris, Illinois. Plans were made to extend the interurban to Paris, where it would link to the Indiana interurbans by way of the Terre Haute & Western Railway, but the dream was never accomplished. About 1924 two lightweight one-man cars were bought from St. Louis Car Company and replaced McGuire-Cummings-built heavies which were equipped for 1200 volts then and sent to the Sou- thern Illinois Railway & Power property. Local city operation ended in Charleston during 1925 and the interurban and Mattoon city lines were cut off on March 1, 1927. \ H Lightweight one-man interurban 231 replaced heavies like 205 (which were then sent to Southern Illinois, page 128 et seq.) and, after abandonment of the interurban, they were sent to C&JE (see page see Mattoon 13). 107 wci ALTON This hilly river port town had a very unusual configuration of routes, which is apparent on the map (opposite page) when one realizes that the town's business center is on the river, at the lower left cor- ner. For a photo of the characteristic Birney car of Alton's final street car years, see CERA Bulletin 98, page 17. BM ""■ ■■■ MURPHYSBORO-CARBONDALE: The Murphysboro and Southern Illinois Rail- way was incorporated September 21, 1909 to build the interurban road between Murphysboro and Carbondale. The Murphysboro Elec. Ry. Lt. Heat & Power Co., incorporated Nov. 12, 1907, purchased the Murphysboro Street Ry. Co. and completed the city road there, opening it for ser- vice on October 1, 1909- This operation was abandoned January 26, 1927. 108 < NOIAIWOO £ Aiaaan ^ojii-^^ NO0V38 109 ***** *£ - osD pA Hl s I I TERRE HAUTE - PARIS: The Terre Haute & Western Railway was in- corporated as an extension to the lines of the Terre Haute Traction & Light Company for the purpose of building the interurban railway with- in Illinois from Sanford to Paris, connecting at the State Line with THT&L tracks into Terre Haute. This was the only one of the several schemes for creating an interstate link to connect up the great interurban systems of Indiana with the Illinois Traction lines which was actually com- pleted into Illinois. It too failed in its purpose whenlllinois Traction was unsuccessful in build- ing the very few miles of track southward from Ridge Farm to Paris that would close the gap. The Terre Haute -Paris line was operated from March 1907 to February 25, 1932. Thruout this time it was an integral part of the system of the Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company . For service on this line 8 Jewett cars were bought, originally given odd numbers in the high 120s and 130s. Later they were given even num- bers 110-124. They were 53'-8" long, 8'-ll" wide, had4-GE73c motors and type M controls. u u 0) no ALTON- JERSEY VILLE: The Alton- Jerseyville railway line was not only one of the state's most ill-fated interurbans; it was one of its least known and shortest-lived. As the Alton Jacksonville & Peoria Railway, it was incorporated on November 19, 1904 with an JIPlffllEisTflii initial plan of reaching Jacksonville from Alton and later extending to Peoria. In August of 1907 five miles of track from Alton to the suburb of Godfrey were placed in service. In 1909 this short stub carried 300,000 passengers with four cars and was able to show bare-break-even re- turns ranging from a net profit of $189 in 1908 to a loss of $486 in 1910, with an average fare of 5£ per passenger. In 1911 the company began construction of line northward from Godfrey, but the hilly first 10 miles thru thinly populated country ran the com- pany out of funds. In September 1911 F. L. But- ler was appointed Receiver and he succeeded in pushing track thru to the south edge of Jersey- ville. Additional cars were obtained; 22 miles of road was now operating. In 1914 the property was sold for $500,000 to J. C. Van Rider, President of the Title Guarantee Trust Company of St. Louis, representing the bondholders, and was reorganized as the Alton & Jacksonville Railway Co. From 1913 to 1916 there was a small operating profit, averaging about $4000 per year, but in 1917 this turned to red. While the company operated freight service, the volume brought in only 8% of its meager rev- enues. In the fall of 1917 the line applied to abandon, citing its losses and the deteriorated condition of its physical plant. The Commission acceded, not- ing the paralleling steam road service offered by the Chicago Peoria & St. Louis Ry., and the very limited potential growth in the area. Service was suspended February 1, 1918 and the road was dismantled shortly thereafter. EAST ST. LOUIS & SUBURBAN RAILWAY: Condensed from Electric Railway Journal, Sept. 7, 1912. Keep its 43-year age in mind as you read. The East St. Louis & Suburban Company has 185 miles of track in East St. Louis and on its suburban and interurban lines extending to the southeast, east, northeast and north. A subsidi- ary company has a lighting load of about 50,000 16 cp. equivalents with 3000 meters and a motor load of about 3000 connected horsepower. The territory served by the railway is very densely populated. East St. Louis, the third city in Illi- nois, has a population of 58,000 and is joined on the north by the suburbs of Venice, Madison and Granite City, which are manufacturing districts directly across the river from St. Louis. The city car routes serving these four cities converge at EastSt. Louis, andmanyofthe cars are operated over the Eads Bridge to a terminal on the St. Louis side of the Mississippi River. The inter- urban Unas traverse a rich, well-populated agri- cultural district underlaid with coal, and termi- nate at thriving cities of from 10,000 to 25,000 population located approximately 25 miles from East St. Louis. The East St. Louis & Suburban Company is a holding company for the various lines which are operated by a single organization: (1) East St. Louis & Suburban Railway Com- pany, which owns single-track interurban lines connecting East St. Louis with Edwardsville via: Collinsville and with Lebanon via Edgemont and O'Fallon and a double-track line from East St. Louis to Belleville via Edgemont. (2) St. Louis & Belleville Electric Railway, a coal-carrying road operated by electric locomo- tives, and giving no passenger service. (3) East St. Louis Railway Company, which owns the city lines in East St. Louis. 112 (4) St. Louis & East St. Louis Electric Railway, which operates the lines over the Eads Bridge, 1-1/4 miles. This company leases trackage for street car operation from the St. Louis Terminal Railway Association. (5) Alton, Granite & St. Louis Traction Com- pany, which owns the interurban line from East St. Louis to Alton with a branch from Granite City to Horseshoe Lake, the local lines in Brook- lyn, Venice, Madison, Granite City and Alton and a 9 -mile branch from Mitchell on the Alton in- terurban to Edwardsville, (6) East St. Louis Light & Power Company, which does a general commercial, street and residence lighting and power business in the dis- trict and purchases energy from the East St. Louis & Suburban Railway. (7) Alton Gas & Electric Company, which sup- plies electrical energy for commercial, resi- dence and street lighting, and also furnishes hot water heat and illuminating gas in the city of Al- ton. TRACK & ROADWAY: Altho this property includes lines built by sev- eral different construction organizations, the present management has seen fit in its mainten- ance work to adopt uniform standards for all lines. More than half the track is built in the Amer- ican Bottoms, which are broad prairies but a few feet above the level of the Mississippi River and protected from flooding by levees. The soil in these bottom lands is a rich alluvial deposit, valuable fortruck raising but very unsatisfactory as a foundation for railway tracks. The electric railway has followed steam road practice in this country and placed its tracks on high embank- ments; even in flat country. In this way, by rea- son of the good drainage and generous use of ballast, it has obtained a roadbed with fine riding qualities. 4K»K*g*. About 10 miles of the track, between O'Fallon and Lebanon, originally was part of the Balti- more & Ohio Southwestern Railroad. This com- pany built a new line of lower grade and sold its right-of-way and track to the Suburban railway. The track is ballasted thruout with chatts, the tailings from zinc mines. It is easy to work and if more than 8 inches deep no weeds will grow thru it. The Edgemont-Edwardsville line and the cut- off between East St. Louis and Collinsville are built largely on private rights-of-way with75-lb. rail and are ballasted with chatts. The lines from Alton and Edwardsville to Mitchell and from there thru Granite City and Madison to East St. Louis are on rock ballast. These tracks are now being lifted and resurfaced with cinders placed on top of the rock ballast. Nearly all the track in the paved streets of East St. Louis is laid with 80-lb. 7-in. or 90-lb. 9-in. girder rail on a ballast substructure con- forming to the latest design. Replacements are made with 12 5-lb. 9-in. rail. BN "~f-ff -H rll Fm On the Alton line are five steel viaducts over steam roads, ranging in original cost from $20,000-$80,000. A drainage canal built by the Sanitary District crossed the Alton line a little north of Mitchell. Here a five-span deck-girder bridge, having 55-ft. long spans with girders 6-ft. deep was built. SUBSTATIONS: Seven modern substations feed this company's 110 miles of interurban lines. The trolley wires of the East St. Louis city lines are fed directly from the main generating system at Winstanley, a suburb of East St. Louis. Energy is supplied to the other substation transformers by three-phase 25-cycle, 13, 200-volt transmission lines, carried on the trolley poles. The substations have been designed with a view to simplicity. Each consists of a brick building with a truss-supported roof and with concrete floors and foundations. The window openings in the substations are glazed with wire glass, and the interior walls are painted white to improve the illumination. The seven substations include rotary conver- ters with a total capacity of 4300 kw. At the O'Fallon substation, which has two 200 -kw General Electric rotaries, a Crocker- Wheeler booster is used to supply energy to a 3-mile feeder extending toward Lebanon which is 10 miles distant, and 200-volts additional pressure is applied to this feeder. A small generating station in connection with the hot-water heating plant at Alton includes a 500-kw rotary for oper- ating the north end of the Alton and Granite City interurban line and the local city lines. 113 RvM The interurban lines between Edwardsville, Collinsville, Edgemont and Belleville are located either on the bluffs parallel with the Mississippi River or on the rolling uplands. The construction of the roadway of these lines is similar to that for most of the lines in the Central States. The most southerly line, that operated for freight traffic only between East St. Louis and Belle- ville, is 14 miles long. It has single track on a private right-of-way. This line is built with low grades and long radius curves so that trains of forty cars may be operated. The western termi- nal of this coal road is a 14-track yard in East St. Louis; the eastern terminal is at a coal mine just west of Belleville. This track is largely bal- lasted with cinders. The Belleville passenger line has two tracks for its full length, laid at the sides of a wide highway which closely parallels the Belleville coal road. This line has been resurfaced with cinders and rock ballast. It is laid with 60-lb. T-rails. The Edgemont-Lebanon line has 18 miles of single track and is laid partly with 85-lb. rail and partly with 60-lb. rail. Note the "Milwaukee" style of car 663 shown in photo second above. ErJR. '■ ejct ■ -•**&&$*&*#%& rat-i 114 EAST ST. LOUIS and SUBURBAN BY. AND CONNECTIONS. EAST ST. LOUIS RY. CO. ALTON, GRANITE & ST. LOUIS TRACTION CO. ST. LOUIS & EAST ST. LOUIS ELECTRIC RT. CO. 115 r -f^»*. fcHfcSS: SN OVERHEAD CONSTRUCTION: Number 000 round trolley wire is used on most of the interurban lines except the Alton line, which is number 000 grooved. Number 00 is used on the city lines. The two lines to Belleville and the Alton interurban are span construction. The mast arms for the other interurban lines are of the flexible type and are mounted on the poles used for the transmission line. A large amount of aluminum feeder is used. The 0000 trolley wire used on the Belleville freight road is sup- ported by span construction, and since this line, which at times requires very large amounts of current for its locomotives, is parallel with the double-track passenger line the copper on the two lines is tied together thru automatic circuit breakers. eo ,„ y«L^EI--g Interurban "dachshund" trailer #82 (above, right) shows decided family resemblance to suburban motor car 38 (above) . It should: it was made from two of that type spliced together. At switches on the high-speed division the trol- ley wire over the siding tracks has been connect- ed to the trolley wire by the Rymco trolley switch, which is automatically operated by the track switch and removes the need for transferring the trolley pole from one parallel wire to the other. Telephone booths are installed at each siding, and these booths are provided with single -throw double-pole switches which automatically dis- connect the telephone sets from the line wires when the booth doors are closed. POWER STATION: Previous to the consolidation of the several suburban lines with the East St. Louis city lines, energy for operating the cars was supplied by small and separate plants. At the time of the con- solidation the central power station was built at Winstanley, close to the junction of the coal line and the St. Louis Terminal Railway. ROLLING STOCK: There are 2 1 interurban cars, each about 55-ft. long, and arranged for train operation, 26 sub- urban cars, each 46-ft. long, 103 city cars, 32- ft. to 42-ft. long, 14 of which are pay-as-you- enter type; 36 service cars, 4 large motor ex- press cars, two 50-ton electric locomotives, two steam locomotives and about 900-80, 000-lb. coal cars. On all the later types of cars for suburban use type M control and National emergency straight- air brake equipment have been installed. All city cars with platform control have their con- trollers equipped with automotoneer s, and it is stated that this feature has greatly reduced the cost of maintenance, since it requires the motor- man to stop the controller handle exactly on the notches. EP PASSENGER SERVICE: The number of regular and tripper cars in daily service in 1911 averaged 111. The East St. Louis city cars are operated on an average l\ minute interval. The traffic on the 1 5-mile double-track line from East St. Louis to Belleville is very heavy, requiring at times 20 cars. The one-way fare from Belleville to St. Louis is 20£, or 15£ to East St. Louis. Cars are on a 15-minute headway during the lighter hours of the day, with nearly twice that service during rush hours, at which time two-car mul- tiple-unit trains are frequently operated. On Sunday cars operate on 5-minute headways. All trains make the 15 miles in 55 minutes. Two- car trains have a motorman and two conductors. 116 ED Passenger service on the 22 -mile Lebanon line operates in and out of East St. Louis on hourly- headway with night and morning tripper service. Edwardsville is reached by either of two lines owned by this company and cars are operated around the loop formed by these two lines, approximately 42 miles. Hourly service is given in each direction on the Edwardsville loop and also on the 27-mile line to Alton. A section of the latter line south of Granite City is double - tracked. Rates for special-car service are computed on the basis of 75£ per car mile. Schedules for special cars, insofar as possible, represent the time of regular cars. ■* . t'-r-t et> Rvy\ 41411111 INI T ».' HP,'*.P, ■ ■*■■ 117 GP (xf 118 For key to locations where photos at top left and lower left and right cor- ners, see map opposite: ^^aSflfe iAl ^S Stop. f^^ ° o o o ■ VI ill v i l - - - *■ ■>■ .A— 4 \ v\ ^a !^i„ jL.yT^ - M I I l ■ f Ac r-. k it ^' ■4? 119 TO ALTON a §/ EDWARDSVILLE COLUNSVILLE a EDWARDSVILLE Realignment of tracks of Illinois Traction System, St. Louis Electric Terminal Railway, and Alton, Granite & St Louis Traction Co through Tn-Oties • STEAM ROADS Inset maps are excerpts fran ttor presentation submitted by the Illinois Traction System for the Charles A. Coffin Foundation competition in 1926. 1925 E. St. Louis and Suburban Ry Co. and affiliated companies Other electric railway lines by W. C. 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S 2 2 5 2 5 2 £ , si! aenaseassfia m a 338 8 R A = =31 a8RR8«38Sna lijliii 122 EAST ST. LOUIS-WATERLOO: The East St. Louis Columbia & Waterloo Rail- way Company was incorporated August 31, 1906 by local interests but did not commence construc- tion until 1912. Operation began in December of that year, with 22 miles of track from East St. Louis thru Dupo and Columbia to Waterloo. Its passenger cars operated to the foot of Washing- ton Street in St. Louis via the Eads Bridge, using trackage rights over the East St. Louis & Subur- ban. The area served was partially industrialized as far as Columbia, with typical rural country- side beyond. Construction of the line cost about $850,000. There were 8 passenger cars and thruout the line's history a l|- hour service with 14 round trips daily was operated. Traffic reached a max of 600,000 passengers total in the early 1920s, but this slipped away rapidly to only 222,000 in 1931. Freight traffic as a bridge carrier bolstered passenger earnings. The road connected with the several steam roads it crossed and offered an attractive by-pass route for certain kinds of movements. In March 1932 the company asked permission to discontinue rail passenger service, substi- tuting bus service by its affiliated St. Louis Red Bud & Chester Bus Company. The application was granted and rail passenger service ended on June 1, 1932. Freight traffic was unable to support the road's costs even with the passenger losses eliminated. On December 31, 1935 the road claimed to have only $191 in cash on hand to meet bills of $40,000. Permission for total abandonment was inevitably granted, on April 11, 1936. >* ,*►:» ^ COAL BELT ELECTRIC RAILWAY: Built by local coal interests, headed by F. S. Peabody of the Illinois Midland Coal Co. , the Coal Belt Electric Railway was, for most of its life a subsidiary of the Missouri Pacific (steam) Railway. It was incorporated May 28, 1901 and began its operation July 1 1902. It extended from Herrin to Marion, with a branch from Energy, near Her- rin, to Carterville, operated as a side detour of cars on the main line. Another branch, from Mar- ion to Spillertown, was abandoned in April 1907. The entire mileage was only 13 and at its peak this required the operation of only 7 passenger cars, but then the total population of the area was only 15,000 in 1910, of whom about half were in the town of Marion. The company was operated by the Coal Belt Railway from July 1904 until February 1910, and then it was acquired by the St. Louis Iron Moun- tain & Southern Railway and its successor, the Missouri Pacific. Its schedules were carried in "Mo-Pac" timetables. amm*im* m-sa+M^^^^mjw*j^m^M^*.i:\..r^ .^^aaBBiiiw flBhiataftv li *"v. . ' ._■. '<_ ■* < ^ V. ..■ * _-V.._ • " IC"""'" c.H "^r^rJ'^j^y in 1914 the Coal Belt Electric, as such, dis- continued freight operations, turning over this phase of its business to the parent steam railroad. This traffic, primarily coal and materials to a powder plant, amounted to 8800 cars a year. Passenger traffic in 1918 totalled nearly 1.2 million passengers, moved at an average fare of only 5£, but the building of hard roads in the area in 1922 and the exhaustion of the coal mines passenger revenues skidded to $36,000, less than half what it cost to perform the service. Small wonder that the Illinois Commerce Commission was soon called upon to permit abandonment of passenger service, which it authorized on Octo- ber 27, 1926. Trolley wires were taken down promptly and some of the cars went to another Missouri Paci- fic interurban at Houston (Houston North Shore). Steam freight operation also ended in a few years. LEFT & ABOVE: Houston North Shore cars 522 and 529, among others, began their careers on the Coal Belt Electric. ■>■ i : ' . r in im i i| ! mi 126 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS RAILWAY & POWER: In April, 1913, the Southern Illinois Railway & Power Company opened a 15-mile electric rail- way from Eldorado thru Harrisburg to Carriers Mills in Saline County. The line was built to use 1200-volt direct current. Located in the southern Illinois coal field, the company planned from the first to share in the hauling of coal. Estimates of the potential coal traffic ran as high as 5 mil- lion tons per year. The line was single track thruout, but was of heavy construction, with long turnouts to accom- modate the freight operation. Steam railroad operating practices were followed. Shops, power house and yards were built at the town of Muddy, about 2>\ miles northeast of Har- risburg. In the early days, in addition to supply- ing the railway, the power house generated elec- tricity for commercial sale in the area. i_ . Map of Line of Southern Illinois Railway & Power Company Passenger rolling stock consisted of 51 ft. mo- tor cars built by the American Car Company: one coach #52, two combines #53 and 54 and two trail- ers #51 and 101. There was also a 48 ft. storage battery car, #40. Later cars 55 and 56, railroad roof combos, were brought to the line from the Central Illinois Public Service Mattoon-Charles- ton property when the latter put one-man light- weight cars in service. A 1923 roster listed a 68j ft. trailer #110. Freight equipment included electric locomotive #45, gondolas #801-816 and cinder cars #1002- 1006. Passenger traffic proved fairly good and plans for extensions thru Marion to Carbondale and to Rosiclare were made. However, the fortunes of the area were dependent almost entirely on coal, and when that industry became distressed, the fate of the interurban was sealed. After a short period of freight-only operation, the entire oper- ation was abandoned in 1933. ■""■' ■ — 127 *-*> P P «& m ^\*>^*v* •^ ABOVE: End of rail at Carrier Mills. Those mushy streets indicate a busy afternoon ahead for the car cleaners and a slow day for auto traffic. .**>» ,M* : e^o*- 1 "- *°* >W°-< /^ S ^ *<*■<<.« *l« - - > J ■S < -J Q & c < pH *- < is 4) > >- >• 3 1 UJ IN z o in UJ UJ V -1 <: >< Z < -J QQ >• < D Z O a, s ul u. O c >. c (C 4) on O < >• < z o p < t* 4> a s Z T3 O SO H a z o s m O U. z c "5 J3 z DC UJ UJ O UJ < o CSl a z < Z UJ S z a: ions contained X Ou UJ > > o 3 H H O UJ u. a Ul X O u. OS 10 c fe CO u. J5 I eg <2 OS E 5 1 o >- > ^^^^* q: 3 UJ J u. £ •«f * * j CO c ^ bh |Jj 5 " a : % \~- S 111 ji Il| a l f |S il 1 sJ- 151 « i! Ptj 1! 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", ' ' J » A 3 s a ; z S f- ;, S s z 8 -;;- = ; 2 '. y. - — | °z <- "3" i g 1 V - "1" : 2 a l f >i M "S" i i i 3 E s si Kg 1 - a » ~^- t 3 a | a ' a* "fjf ■ ■ ' S 1 s a H " si " 3 5 5 ■ -- 3 ': . - 3 - 5 2 .; 8 5fl| 7 S 8 ■i -« ; " '- = ; - a| V, s ', ■ 7 S 3 ~ n i.i S 5 7 r. - _ z ! |,| - 5 s 'i 1 X ill i S a. 1 x a X E X * 1 1 u u | s 130 Centralia Traction iirf'.r ■ t T H .^9 ^^HP W 3 ! a|^»»y^^ [ -^^, i ^m _ m^mm- i Jpe"£5S>Ttf ^ "V^ 9 131 132 ONE WOODSTOCK & SYCAMORE TRACTION CO. While its operation was strictly that of an in- terurban railway, Woodstock & Sycamore Trac- tion Company never had electric propulsion. It was promoted by the Brown family of St. Charles who had also pushed the Elgin h Belvidere line. Construction started in 1910 at the city limits of Sycamore and in the spring of 1911 the line had reached the city limits of Marengo. Construction was later extended through the streets of Maren- go, altho track connection was not made with the Elgin & Belvidere line. Some grading was also done northward from Union to Woodstock, with the apparent intention of using either the E&B or Chicago & North Western Railway between Marengo and Union. Operation was begun with three McKeen gas- mechanical cars painted red. The barn was at Genoa. Cars were turned at Sycamore on an un- powered turntable just north of the Chicago Great Western Railway tracks and at Marengo on a wye. Except for the barn tracks, there was no passing track on the entire road. The huge, cranky McKeens proved unsuited for the line and spent quite a bit of their time on the ground. They were replaced by the much smaller gasoline car put out by the Fairbanks -Morse people, two of which were acquired. After a short, futile history, Woodstock & Syc- amore folded up before World War I. ,x* ,e1 *v k 1 ni p^ w**- i z BN a* •?/:.'•' " - v - ■ ^ ^B 1 - .I,. \ w ^9. til j 133 INDEX OF CONTENTS OF BULLETIN 99: Map of electric railway properties in Illinois 2 Foreword: Scope of Bulletin 99 3 Evanston; North Shore fc Western 4 Midlothian Chicago & West Towns Railway ° Chicago S> Interurban Traction Company 8 Chicago tt Joliet Electric Railway 10 Anna - Jonesboro 22 Chicago Heights; Chgo. Burlington i Quincy R.R. . . 23 Aurora - Joliet - Chicago Heights 24 Aurora - Elgin Valley Line 30 Chicago Harvard Jc Geneva Lake Railway 39 Fox & Illinois Union 4u Elgin 8t Belvidere 4 2 4Q Belvidere _ 7 Rockford Lines 50 Freeport '" Aurora - De Kalb 60 De Kalb - Sycamore 62 Amboy - Lee Center 63 Keokuk; Rock Island - Moline 64 Quincy Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 67 Rock Island Southern 68 Kankakee 74 Harvey Transit; Two Mystery Lines 76 Kewanee Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 77 Peru-LaSalle Map (for photos, see B-98); Streator . . 78 Ottawa Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 79 Canton - Fairview - Farmington 80 Galesburg Map (for photos, see B-98); Sterling-Dixon . 81 Peoria Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 83 Peoria-Pekin 84 Pekin Municipal Railway 86 Lincoln Street Railway 87 Pontiac - Dwight Interurban 88 Springfield 90 Springfield - Clear Lake 95 Jacksonville Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) .... 96 Taylorville 97 Mechanicsburg - Buffalo 98 Decatur Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 99 Bloomington-Normal Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 100 Champaign-Urbana Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98). . 101 Urbana - Paxton 102 Danville Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 104 Paris; Rosiclaire-Elizabethton 105 Mattoon-Charleston 106 Alton; Murphysboro - Carbondale 108 Terre Haute - Paris 110 Alton - Jerseyville Ill East St. Louis and Suburban 112 East St. Louis - Waterloo 123 Coal Belt Electric Railway 124 Mount Vernon 125 Southern Illinois Railway St Power Company 126 Centralia; Hillsboro 131 Cairo Map (for photos, see Bulletin 98) 132 Woodstock - Sycamore L33 COVER PHOTOS: Front cover: Southern Illinois Railway & Power Company passenger extra 56 loading at Eldorado station. Inside rear cover: Elgin & Belvidere 208 enters west edge of Belvidere. Note the odd telephone-boothlike projection at the traindoor, just wide enough for a C6 controller, a brake valve type M22 and the motorman's knees. Rear cover: Rockford 8t Interurban Railway 709. This book is the property of /// CENTRAL ELECTRIC RAILFANS' ASSOCIATION Bulletin 99, November, 1955. Copyright, 1956, by the Central Electric Railfans' Association P. O. Box 503, Chicago 90, Illinois Printed in the United States DIRECTORS OF CERA: (Term expiring 1955, extended by re-election thru 1958): Raymond De Groote, Chairman and Publication Sales (Terms expiring 1955 and retiring): Theo. A. Kawol, Registration Bernard L. Neuburger, Publications (Terms expiring 1956): Richard -J. Anderson, Financial John R. Williams, Program (Terms expiring 1957): William C, Hoffman, Inspection Trips Truman C. Hefner, Secretary (Incoming, terms expiring 1958): Jos. T. Canfield, Registration Frank J. Misek, Publications PUBLICATION COMMITTEE FOR B-99: Bernard L. Neuburger ('55) Frank J. Misek ('56) Text: Leon Benson Jos. M. Canfield John F. Due Paul Stringham Track and Route Maps (Delineation): W. C. Janssen Robt. V. Mehlenbeck John E. Merriken Frank J. Misek W. E. Robertson Max A. Zink Map Reference Data: Stanwood Griffith Paul Stringham Transfers & Tickets: Raymond DeGroote M.W. Nash Rolling Stock Drawings: Leo Komuchar Timetables: Stanley Bristol WUbourne B. Cox Typing, Electromatic: Mrs. F. J. Misek Assembly it Paste-Up: Geo. Krambles Bertrand J. Misek *• X*V ■V#3 « ."^p> i- ** V ■• «1\ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 385 509773SM18 C001 THE SMALLER ELECTRIC RAILWAYS OF ILLINOI 3 0112 025309300 J 1 SPECIAL .A ! i! <*mt*miA